> TITLE: "Fine Things"
AUTHOR: Aiobheann
PAIRING: Aeryn/Chiana
RATING: NC-17 Explicit f/f sexual activity.
SUMMARY: Aeryn wants to forget about Crichton and D'Argo...and Chiana has something that may just take her mind off her troubles. Yes, this is "Aiobheann Writes Grrl Smut." Part 10 of the "Blood Brothers'" series.
NOTES: This story is part of the "Blood Brothers" series, even though it does not feature my usual J/D pairing. I wanted to explore the effect John and D'Argo's relationship is having on Aeryn a bit further than I did in "Reluctant Witness", and um, well...I was also answering a challenge. For those not interested in f/f pairings, you can probably safely skip this one, but I may begin weaving the two storylines together at some point down the road.
DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine. They aren't even the ones I usually play with. They belong to Henson. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is changing hands. The song "Desperado" is the property of Geffen Records and Don Henley/Glenn Frye, quoted here wihout permission. The story itself is copyright Aiobheann, 1999.
FEEDBACK: Yes, please, as this is my first attempt at f/f slash. diva@sonoratx.net
ARCHIVE: Smutscape. All others, please ask.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This one is dedicated to Xen, for daring me to write some ladyslash. Do I get my prize now? :)

She tried to pick the shapes of some of the earth constellations he had described to her out of the splash of pinpoints of cold light above her. The tears refused to go away, and she couldn't connect any of the stars in the patterns he had told her about -- the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, Orion, Andromeda. She could imagine him as a boy, looking up into the sky of his earth, seeing pictures in the stars and wishing he was up there among them. While she was a lonely little girl on a training ship, far away among stars he'd never seen, learning not to see and imagine, learning only to obey and not question.

When was it that everything she thought of started to lead right back to him? When she realized he belonged to -- with -- someone else? She remembered walking into the maintenance bay that day, hearing him singing. What was the line that cut her to the bone?

Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the ones that you can't get...

He was never mine in the first place. I lost my chance.

The only consolation was that he would probably give up on going home. It would mean leaving his sword brother behind, and she knew him well enough to know that once his loyalty was given, it was as good as set in stone. He also said he'd never leave you, a small voice whispered, and she flung the bottle in her hand across the terrace, the smash and sizzle as it shattered against the forcefield satisfying but all too brief.

"If you're trying to get drunk, I wouldn't be throwing booze around like that."

She snapped upright, looking behind her. Chiana stood by the terrace doorway, hands on her hips and a grin on her face.

"It works better taken internally."

"Get away from me." Aeryn snapped, turning back around and dropping her head back down onto her boots.

"Just trying to help. Isn't that what all of you do for each other? I've never seen a bigger bunch of 'team-players' in my life. It's so sweet it makes me ill."

"I don't need your help."

"Suit yourself. So, what's the occasion?" Chiana crossed the terrace and crouched next to Aeryn, looking her over carefully. Tear-tracks on her face, flushed cheeks...altogether a stark contrast from the in-control commando facade Aeryn always projected. And so much more delicious, Chiana thought. I wonder if I could make her blush even deeper? She cut that thought off -- Aeryn was as straight as they got, the biggest tipoff being how she followed John around with her eyes when she thought no one else could see. Chiana always saw, though -- she made it her business to know everyone else's business, just in case some of that information came in handy someday.

"No occasion." Aeryn said defensively. "Can't I just get frelling drunk if I feel like it?"

Chiana watched her for a moment, gauging just how drunk Aeryn might already be and calling on everything she knew about her. She had looked very upset when she had returned from the commerce planet with the lovebirds -- oh, Chiana had known about that little liason as soon as she had come on board. She figured if none of her flirting with John had gotten her anywhere, he must really be devoted to that big sourfaced Luxan. Besides, they were as transparent in the way they looked at each other as Aeryn was when she looked at John. So, something happened planetside. Did Aeryn get her face rubbed in it? Maybe she didn't know about those two. She loves John, and John loves someone else. What can I get out of this situation?

She watched Aeryn tipping her head back to take another drink, admiring the slender throat that tapered down into shoulders that were deceptively narrow for all the strength they possessed. I know what I want, but can I get it without getting my head ripped off? Chiana thought, letting her eyes wander lower.

"Men are frelling idiots, aren't they?" Chiana asked, turning to stare up at the stars.

"What?"

"I said, men are idiots."

"That's the only thing you've ever said that I agree with." Aeryn pronounced gravely, letting a small smile quirk the corners of her mouth. Sighing, she picked up another bottle and handed it to Chiana. Chiana accepted it with a nod and lowered herself to the deck, coiling her legs gracefully under her.

"I don't have much use for them, myself." Chiana said, opening the bottle and taking a drink.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I only frell men when it suits my purposes. It's more like work, if you get my meaning. I get my fun somewhere else."

Aeryn took another drink, appearing thoughtful as she let this information settle.

"So you like women?"

"Uh huh."

Aeryn thought a little more.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just always have. Women make more sense to me, I guess. I like the way two women fit together, I like the way women look, and smell...I like the way two girls make a circle together when they make love. I mean, there's no set beginning or end...it can just go on and on, until you're worn out and ready to cuddle up and sleep." Chiana glanced over at Aeryn, who still looked pensive and thoughtful. "It's kind of comforting...but really and truly hot at the same time."

Aeryn took another drink, setting the bottle down next to her side very carefully.

"I've never had anything like that." Aeryn said softly.

Chiana waited. Aeryn seemed to be thinking out loud, and she didn't dare interrupt her -- Aeryn looked both considering and frightened, and she sensed that the slightest move or sound would scare her away, send her back inside herself, back behind all those walls of hers.

"I grew up on a training ship. I spent my entire life with the same people, was raised with my unit. They were like my brothers and sisters. It was a taboo to have sex with anyone in your unit...it would be like incest. So when we got the chance, like when we trained with another unit, or went planetside, we would sneak off with someone, someone we didn't even know...just to find out what it was like." Aeryn picked up the bottle again, drank as if drawing courage out of it. She lay back, face turned up to the stars, as if looking at Chiana while she spoke was more than she was capable of.

"You know what it was like? Scary. Clumsy. You were frelling this person you didn't even know, would probably never see again, and it was always in some cramped, dark hiding place, with one ear always listening for someone who might come along and catch you. You had to hurry up and get it over with. I never enjoyed it, but I kept on doing it, hoping I would figure out what was supposed to be so wonderful about it. After a while, I just gave up. I decided it was all a joke, that it wasn't anything special. And then, I met someone -- " Aeryn stopped, and Chiana realized she was choking back tears.

"And I wanted to find out if it really was something special. But I won't ever get a chance to find out. I waited too long."

Chiana bit her lip and stared down at the toes of her boots. She knew who Aeryn was talking about, and she cursed herself for being so uncharitable about it, even inside her own head. Aeryn was turning out to be something, someone, entirely different than she had expected her to be. She glanced over at Aeryn and saw silvered tracks moving slowly down her temples, disappearing into her hair. She had wanted to seduce Aeryn, just to see if she could. Now she wanted something entirely different, something that wouldn't be about taking but giving. I guess I'm not who I thought I was, either. What a surprise that is.

"Aeryn?"

"What?" Aeryn said, her voice clipped and tense, as if she was waiting for Chiana to laugh at her, make fun of her.

"It doesn't have to be like that. It can be special."

Aeryn turned and looked at her.

"If I come over there, are you going to hit me?" Chiana asked.

Aeryn furrowed her brows. "I guess not."

Chiana scootched over, lying down next to Aeryn. Aeryn glanced over at her, a little startled, and then slipped her arm under Chiana'a shoulders, giving her a place to rest her head. Chiana molded her body against Aeryn's side, hearing her give a sharp sigh at the feel of it. After a moment, she turned on her side, laying her arm across Aeryn's waist and then going completely still, waiting for Aeryn to either accept or reject it.

Aeryn lay still, too, shocked at the warmth baking off of Chiana's body, feeling the slim arm stretched across her rising and falling with her breath. She turned her head to look at the face so close to her own. Chiana's eyes were so dark, her face so pale and silvered in the scant starlight filtering down from above them.

"Aeryn, I won't do anything you don't want."

Aeryn closed her eyes, feeling Chiana's breath flit across her skin as she spoke. What do I want? This was like nothing she had ever imagined herself doing. This was no comrade, no fellow soldier, hardened by battle and by the death of those close to her. This was not another Sebacean, and she searched herself for the automatic gut response of disgust that had been trained into her from birth. It was not there. All that was there, suddenly, was a wave of desire so strong that it made her shudder. Whatever this was, it was just fine -- in fact, more than just fine. Suddenly it was absolutely necessary.

She opened her eyes and looked at Chiana. "There is nothing I don't want right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Can I kiss you?" Chiana asked, and Aeryn swallowed hard and nodded. Chiana leaned in and kissed Aeryn's temple, brushing her lips across the tracks her tears had made, tracing down over Aeryn's cheek to the corner of her lips. A tongue tip darted out and moved along the edge of Aeryn's lower lip and then retreated, replaced with the softness of Chiana's mouth as she lowered it gently to Aeryn's.

Aeryn bucked her hips, undone by the wave of heat that seemed to arrow from her mouth, straight down through her body, to end explosively between her thighs. Her hands came up of their own accord, gripping Chiana's shoulders, and she wrenched herself over onto her side, pressing her body against Chiana's. She began to kiss her back, desperately, crushing her lips against Chiana's lips, taking the gentle kiss and returning it with passionate force. She felt Chiana's hand skate up her back and grasp the back of her neck, pressing her forward, as Chiana changed her pace to match Aeryn's.

Aeryn rolled them over, propping herself up over Chiana, still covering her mouth with fevered kisses, pulling clumsily at the fastenings of Chiana's top with one hand. Chiana took hold of her wrist, pulling it away, and reached for the lacings of her vest.

"There's no hurry, Aeryn. You can have anything that you want."

Aeryn sat back, watching Chiana's fingers, hypnotized by their movement as they untied the lacings, spread the vest apart. Chiana still wore a blouse and bodysuit underneath, and Aeryn leaned down to plunge her hands down under the neckline, reaching for Chiana's breasts. Chiana arched her back, pushing herself up into Aeryn's hands, and reached up to pull the band from Aeryn's hair, letting loose a fall of dark, richly gleaming hair.

"Much better. You are so beautiful, you know that? I always like it when you wear your hair down."

Aeryn moved her hands up under the bodysuit's top to the edges of the neck and tried to draw it down over Chiana's shoulders, chuffing with irritation when the material refused to stretch enough. "Take this off."

"You have to let me up then." Aeryn watched her mouth move, leaning to kiss her, then caught the sense of Chiana's words.

"Oh. All right." She moved back on her knees, letting Chiana get to her feet in front of her.

Chiana stood, balancing on one foot and then the other, taking off her boots. She stumbled once, and Aeryn reached out and grabbed her hips to steady her, looking up at her face. She looked back down, spreading her hands over Chiana's hips, feeling the splay of her hipbones under her hands, the hollows and soft flesh under the material of her pants. She drew her hands together over Chiana's stomach, and then back up and apart, hooking her fingers under the waistband of Chiana's pants and pulling them to midthigh, revealing the plump mound of her sex hidden behind the bodysuit. Unable to resist, she pressed her face against that softness, opening her mouth to lick at her through the fabric between them.

Chiana gave a soft moan, looking down at the dark head bent against her, feeling the dampness of Aeryn's questing tongue. She pushed her away, stepped back to pull her pants the rest of the way down her legs, stripped off her vest and top, her long gloves, and then the bodysuit. Aeryn moved back against her as soon as the last bit of clothing was off, touching Chiana's sex gently with one hand, leaning forward to study the hairless, delicate lips peeping out from the juncture of her thighs.

"You've never seen another woman up close, have you?"

"No. I mean, I've seen other women naked, but...not really. We were taught that it was wrong to look at another person's body...it was another one of those taboos we grew up with. We always just averted our eyes...it was supposed to give us dignity in close quarters, or some dren like that." She pulled at Chiana's hips, pulling her down to the floor with her. Chiana went willingly, amazed at the intensity and curiosity in Aeryn's eyes as she pushed Chiana's legs apart and stared at her, probed gently with one finger into Chiana's pussy, spreading the lips apart, studying every detail.

Aeryn glanced up at Chiana, and her face colored slightly when she noticed the smile on Chiana's lips.

"Look as much as you want to, Aeryn." Chiana said, her smile softening, and Aeryn seemed to relax a little, seeing that Chiana was not laughing at her.

"You don't have any hair," Aeryn said, a note of wonder in her tone.

"No, Nebari don't have body hair." Chiana replied, amused. Aeryn bent to look closer, seeing that the inner lips were a darker ashy color than Chiana's skin, shading down into a deep pearly grey around the entrance of her sex. She spread the lips apart even farther, and then reached out with one finger and stroked across the bud of Chiana's clitoris. Chiana bucked her hips, letting out a low, gasping moan.

"What's this?"

"Huh? Oh. That's my clit."

"I've never seen anything like it." Aeryn said, experimentally brushing her finger across it again. Chiana bucked and moaned again, and Aeryn smiled, liking the response, the uninhibited sensuality of making her react that strongly.

Chiana opened her mouth to say that Aeryn had one, too, but what emerged was another gasping cry as Aeryn lowered her head and licked across that hard little nub. Before she could catch her breath, Aeryn was licking and nibbling at her, with no finesse or artifice, listening to Chiana's moans and coos of pleasure to guide her. If something she did seemed to elicit a sound of pleasure, she did it again, searching out all the places that seemed to give Chiana the most sensation, mapping her body out with her tongue, learning her as she went.

She felt immensely powerful, proud, somehow, that she was doing this, making Chiana grab at her hair and writhe underneath her like this. Chiana's cries rose in volume and pitch, and Aeryn speeded her efforts, realizing instinctively that she was pushing her towards something, some sensation or peak that she had never even dreamed was possible. She sucked the bud of Chiana's clit into her mouth, working it with her tongue as she sucked, and Chiana wailed and bucked up against her mouth, hands falling away from Aeryn's head to scrabble at the hard floor beneath them. When Chiana quieted, Aeryn lifted her head to look at her, seeing that a pearly flush had spread across her cheeks, wisps of her hair pasted to her forehead with sweat. She crawled up to lie beside her, slipping her arm under Chiana's head again.

"If that's what you can do on the first try..." Chiana paused, catching her breath. "You'll be deadly once you get some practice." Chiana turned on her side, fitting herself into the circle of Aeryn's arms. She leaned in to kiss Aeryn, then leaned back and ran her finger across Aeryn's lips. "I can taste me on you," she said after a moment. "I want to taste you, too."

To her surprise, Aeryn got to her feet and held her hand out. "In my quarters."

Chiana pouted prettily. "Still have to be in charge, don't you?" Nevertheless, she took Aeryn's hand and rose, gasping when Aeryn seized her around the waist with one hand and thrust the other between her thighs, caressing and probing. Chiana rose up on the balls of her feet, head hanging back, mouth open, cooing and bucking against Aeryn's hand.

"I thought you said...your quarters." Chiana moaned, dropping her head to Aeryn's shoulder.

"In a bit. Hush."

Chiana swayed on her feet, cooing moans rising to a breathy wail as she came again, clutching blindly at Aeryn's waist to keep her balance. After a moment, she raised her head, looking up into Aeryn's face and seeing a smile there -- a smile which was different from anything she had ever seen Aeryn give before. Happy, truly happy, and alight with some great discovery that shone from her eyes.

"Aeryn --"

"What?" Aeryn gently released her, bending to pick up Chiana's body suit. She knelt in front of her, holding it out for Chiana to step into, bending forward as she did to give one last kiss to the mound of Chiana's sex. Bracing her hands on Aeryn's shoulders, she did, allowing Aeryn to stand, drawing it up her legs as she went.

"You don't have to do all that." Chiana protested weakly. "I want to give to you, too."

Aeryn leaned forward and kissed her, then pulled back, looking fully into her eyes, and Chiana realized with a start that this was the first time Aeryn had ever done so without making her feel as if she were measuring her and finding her somehow wanting.

"Chiana, you already have."

They watched each other as they dressed, occasionally reaching out to touch and stroke as each of them gradually covered bare, flushed skin. Chiana could feel Aeryn's eyes on her, and she did not feel the need to flirt, to pose and seduce. Aeryn was already hers, somehow -- she didn't understand how or why she knew it, but she prayed that it wouldn't change once Aeryn had time to think about this, about what had happened between them.

Aeryn finished lacing her boots and stood, holding her hand out to Chiana to draw her in for one more kiss, and then pulled her toward the terrace door.

"Aeryn?"

"What?"

"Does this mean you don't think I'm a brat anymore?"

"We'll have to see about that."

"Oh. Are you still going to boss me around?"

"Oh, yes." Aeryn responded, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Frell."

"I plan to. Brat."