"Aeryn, how much longer are you and Crichton going to pretend you don't have feelings for each other?"

Aeryn Sun slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder at Chiana, who stood in the doorway of her quarters. When the look alone wasn't sufficient to drive her intruder away, Aeryn put down the weapon she'd been cleaning and faced the girl.

Chiana waited patiently as Aeryn completed her visual assessment, though she shifted to a more comfortable position in the doorway. It soon became clear that Aeryn was not ready to answer her question, so Chiana, never one to let a good opportunity escape her, moved lithely from the doorway to jump and land on Aeryn's bed.

The grey girl fingered Aeryn's weapon lying there until Aeryn snatched it away. But she still wouldn't give Chiana her answer.

"I don't think that's any of your business."

Chiana wouldn't be put off. She'd come here for this discussion and she was going to have it whether Aeryn liked it or not.

"Look, are you still blaming Crichton for the poppers? Blame Grandma, she's the one who hooked him on the dren." Chiana smiled knowingly at Aeryn.

That got Aeryn's attention.

"How did you know he was taking those?" Aeryn stood over Chiana, ready to shake some answers out of the girl. "How long have you known? Why didn't you tell me?"

Chiana giggled and lay back coquettishly on the bed. "It was obvious to anyone paying attention that John has been frelled up since you dropped him like a hot… tomato?" Chiana rolled the unfamiliar English word around her mouth. "TO…MAAYY…TO".

"Potato." Aeryn slammed her weapon down on a table to get Chiana's focus. "Don't try to distract me. If you knew he was taking one of Noranti's noxious chemicals, why didn't you stop him yourself?"

At this, Chiana sat up, indignant. "Hey, it's not my problem. And it's not really his, either, is it? If it's helping him cope…" Chiana contemplated for a moment. "Seems to me that it's your problem. Or, if you're really done with him, let him deal and cope in his own way. And then it's no one's problem."

Aeryn tried to compose herself. There was no point in letting Chiana see how close she'd scored a hit. Aeryn smiled inside, thinking about the kiss she and John had shared. But no one else could know about that. Especially not Chiana, who would let it slip to Rygel or worse, Sikozu, who had become Scorpius' right hand on the ship. Another problem she and John would have to deal with. Soon. But first…

"Fine. It's no one's problem. And when Crichton's too incapacitated from chemicals to be one more weapon in a fight the next time some irate traders OR WORSE try to board us, then it will continue to be no one's problem if that one weapon could have made the difference and we are no longer here to argue about it!"

Chiana took offense at Aeryn's tone and stood up from the bed. "Frell, I was just trying to help." She walked toward the door, but paused in the doorway. She gave Aeryn a mischievious look as she tossed off her parting blow, "You know, that was almost convincing."

Aeryn was not the type of woman to throw anything other than a dark look at Chiana, but that was enough to send the girl scampering off.