It had been an several weeks since Larraq had made his presence known...

John had been jolted out of his serene state of 'afterglow' by the sight of Larraq; the Peace Keeper captain, who several months earlier had captured their Leviathan spaceship Moya. Since his being locked into this cell, not Larraq or anybody else had made any attempt to contact John. But on that day Larraq had decided to say 'Howdy' by secretly, silently, standing just outside the door of John's cell, smiling down at him as he jacked off... When John had opened his eyes, the sight of Larraq startled him so much that in the process of getting up and off the bed, he somehow got all tangled and fell face first onto the floor. When he quickly got up, Larraq was gone.

John would have dismissed it all as a hallucination except for one thing... Balanced between the bars of the door was something John's cell had not previously contained. In fact John had never seen anything quite like it before. Or that's what he kept trying to convince himself...

He had just completed his daily exercise routine. 100's of push ups, sit ups, and other various calisthenics that he was able to do in his tiny living space, and as usual, he was naked... If possible he did anything that made him sweaty, naked because he only had one set of clothes and they were wearing out fast.

Today he was very sweaty and very sore. He had gotten upset and had worked himself to near exaustion again. He seemed to be doing this more and more lately. John went into the 'bathroom' to shower. As he was getting ready to enter the water, the thought that had set him off in the first place flooded his mind again...

He stormed back into his room to where he had hidden IT.

Sitting on the bed he looked angrily at the object Larraq had left behind. It was made of some kind of metal, about 7 inches long. The first four inches were long and smooth, about a 1/2 inch at the tip and it gradually increased in girth to 1 inch wide. Then there was a sharp decrease in size to 3/4 of an inch thick for about an inch or so until it came to the 'handle'. It was the 'handle' that bothered John the most. It reminded him of a really wigged out horseshoe. It had two equal parts that tapered rapidly as your reached each end. It was 3/4 of an inch thick where it joined with the shaft, one side arched widely around in one direction and ended by curling tightly in upon it's self, the other arched out in the opposite direction but curled tightly away from itself at the tip a bit like an S. But, that's not what bothered him about the handle. What pissed him off, was the little inset button that when pressed, released from several places along the length of the device, a slippery clear liquid.

"It's a God Damn BUTT PLUG!"

A nauseating feeling had shuttered through John's body the first time he had realized what it was. Today, rage had caused John to push his body beyond it's physical limits. Because today, he had been tempted again to try it.

"Hello." said a voice.

John woke up with a start. He rolled over and looked towards the direction of the door. There was nobody there. He began to roll over again to go back to sleep but the voice said-

"John Crichton? That is your name? "

"Who is that?!" But, John knew the answer. "Where are you?!"

"I'm on the comlink... on the DRD just outside your door."

John got up and sure enough there was a DRD with a comlink.

"What do you want? Where is everybody; Zhaan, Aeryn, D'Argo? Are they alive? Moya's baby, has it been born? Let me out!" John frantically demanded, he was beginning to get hysterical.

"Calm down," Larraq said. "Fine, they are all just fine, and no the Leviathan has not yet been born. And I am sorry John Crichton, but you can't come out. Just listen to me, I will try to answer your questions."

Larraq began, "Your failed attempt at impersonating a PK captain had resulted in your being knocked unconscious. Not too long after that, Moya received a transmission from Crais; he had tracked down her location and was coming to kill you. The others, especially Aeryn Sun, frantically begged me not to turn you over to him. Between all their pleading and carrying on, including ridiculous promises made to me if I somehow kept you safe. I secretly decided that if you brought that kind of reaction from this bunch then I better see for myself why you were so special. And besides, I hate Captain Crais.

The pilot informed me that he had a plan, and asked if I would I be willing to help? He said he could create a small area that would be impenetrable by any form of scanning device Crais might use to detect you, and that place is... this cell. If you were to even step one foot onto the corridor, Crais' would be able to find you and you would be a dead man very quickly."

John was so dizzy he had to hold himself up by the cell door bars.

"Do the others know where I am?"

"No, they think I killed you." whispered Larraq.

"Why?" asked John as a huge tear ran down his cheek.

"It was the only way to complete the ruse to fool Crais into believing that you were dead. Lets just say the Luxan and Sabatian could never have faked the depth of pain that they felt upon loosing you. They... they were utterly convincing." he said quietly.

He continued "The pilot is the only one who knows the truth, and of course, this DRD."

"Hey little buddy." John said to the DRD, never realizing before that it had always been the same one caring for him.

Larraq explained. "Before Crais arrived, I killed the alien cargo that we had carried onto Moya and then ejected it into space. This was the only way to mimic a signature of your remains being disposed of, the pilot could not simulate that. I then placed you into the cryo-container until the pilot could secure this room."

"How could an alien carcass be disguised as me?" John asked.

"Once again, because of the talents of the pilot. But, he needed a counterfeit entity of about the same size to simulate your dead body floating in space. It was either the alien cargo or one of your shipmates..."

"Why? Why did you do all this?" John was getting light headed again.

"I can't explain everything right now, just trust me... and remember. That cell your in right now is the only thing keeping you alive. I have got to go. Crais will be returning on board soon. I'll try to contact you again..."

John thought he had signed off, until he tentatively heard Larraq ask.

"John Crichton, did you get my gift? John Crichton? John Crichton, did you hear me? Did you...? Oh Frell ! I will be in touch..." and the DRD scurried away.

John was reeling, he let himself slide slowly to the floor. As he doubled over, gripping his stomach with both arms he broke out into hysterical laughter, intermixed with fits of coughing and ultimately ending in gut wrenching sobs.

"Ha Ha Ha... They think I'm dead. All of them; D'Argo, Zaan, Chiana, Aeryn- to them I'm dead. Ha Ha Ha... I bet Sparky snurched everything I own. HA HA HA... Dead...! HA Ha ha h... but I'm not dead... I'm right here !!! Sob!... "

John spent the next few days in a state of shock. He was a whirlwind of emotions. One moment he was elated and overjoyed that his life had been spared... Depressed the next, wondering why Larraq had done it? Why had the Peace Keeper captain, faced with irreversible contamination if caught, gone to such extreme measures to save his inferior life? If he didn't plan to turn him over to Crais, what did he have in store?

He also thought of his shipmates. From what Larraq had described, the pain that they had experienced because of his 'death' had been profound. This concept took up a great deal of his time; contemplating them suffering. During most of his previous time with them on Moya he had felt like an outsider, they had treated him like frelling dirt much of the time . But Larraq had said they ALL were grief stricken. So much so, that it had fooled Crais. He just couldn't wrap his head around that... "And the Oscar goes to..." Ha Ha Ha... he broke into another fit of hysteria.

"Hello John Crichton. Are you all right?" Said the voice of Larraq.

John expected to find the DRD with the comlink just outside his door.

But instead, as he stepped out of the 'bathroom', he was greeted by the actual presence of Larraq just outside his cell door. He was holding out to John a large piece of fruit.

Without hesitation John grabbed the purple orb and hungrily started to gobble it up. He sank his teeth into the ripe, succulent flesh. As he tore a chunk off, juice ran over the palm of his hand, down the inside of his forearm and dripped off his elbow. He stopped eating and automatically licked up every drop in one long stroke.

The second bite brought glistening wet streams over his chin and onto his bare chest. As he greedily used his other hand to collect the sweetness and lick it from his fingers he glanced up and was confronted directly with Larraq who was now in the cell with him.

John stopped eating in mid chew, he did not move a muscle, he could not even breath. He just stared. Larraq also just stood frozen looking back at John. Finally after his heart had returned to a somewhat normal beat John said " Thank you... Hi, my name is John. Oh yeah, you knew that. Um, your Captain Larraq, right? Um, are you going to...? Um, are you going to kill me now? Cause if you are, can I at least finish this? John shakily moved the fruit slightly towards his mouth.

"Yes, Yes by all means... I mean No, No... I am not going to kill you... Eat the food. That's what I mean. Eat..." and Larraq backed up slightly.

He then said " I'm sorry I did not mean to frighten you. I was able to gain an interval of secure time and we had these." he pointed to the fruit.

"You mean time when Crais is not on board Moya." John asked.

"Yes, when Crais is not in command of Moya." Larraq corrected. "I am sorry I was unable to contact you sooner but Crais has been unusually maniacal lately and I didn't dare risk it."

John bit once again into the soft flesh, but this time with enough control to catch the juice before it left his wrist. Slowly John continued to eat, closing his eyes and savoring every chew, totally unaware that his every move was being devoured just as hungrily, by Larraq.

Once the fruit was gone; core, seeds and all, he held up one finger and said. "Gimme a minute, will ya..." and moved swiftly backwards into the bathroom.

When he emerged, he was freshly washed and he had his shirt on. As he slowly entered the room he saw that Larraq was now sitting on the edge of the bed with his knees apart, he was leaning slightly forward with his elbows resting on his thighs and he had his fingers entwined. John stopped about half way into the room. He looked at Larraq.

"This guy looks like any Joe Blow you might see just casually sittin' around." John thought "But this isn't just any Joe Blow, this guy's a Peace Keeper captain, a trained killing machine..." "A killing machine who gave me a butt plug as a Welcome Wagon gift."

The two men just stared at each other for what seemed like arns. Finally John could not stand it any longer and blurted out. "What am I suppose to do?"

"What do you mean? Larraq said.

"What do you want? What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?" He was now shouting. When he realized what he had done he slammed his hand over his mouth and started gasping for breath through his fingers. He closed his eyes and could hear the blood pumping in his ears. Faintly, far off, he could hear his name being spoken "John Crichton, John Crichton." John opened his tear soaked eyes and could see a blurry Captain Larraq still sitting calmly on his bed, quietly saying his name. Larraq then lifted his hands slightly with the palms open, nodding his head and smiling reassuringly. John instinctively threw himself down upon his knees and into Larraq's open arms, he then began to sob uncontrollably.

As John wept, Larraq tenderly stroked the back of his head and neck with one hand and patted softly upon his shoulder with the other. It had been so long since John had had any contact with another... Human babies will die if not held and caressed, John felt as small and as vulnerable as a new born babe. When his shudders had subsided and most of the tears had dried up, John asked into Larraq's soaked shirt. "What now?"

Larraq whispered. "Now I think, we should get to know each other better."

John swallowed hard. How many times as a teenager, had he imparted that very concept to chicks he had picked up at the beach or in the mall.

As he was tenderly being held, John began to realize that he didn't mind being this close to Larraq. Maybe it had to do with him being alone for so long... Or probably it was because John was beginning to think Larraq wasn't such a bad guy after all.

"I mean he did save your sorry ass. So what, if he wants to hug you. Hell, football players slap each other on the ass all the time. It's all good, a necessary even vital part of sports. Yeah, this is all just part of the classic -'I'll save your life, you give me a little cuddle', game plan." John rationalized in his head.

Slowly Larraq moved his hands so that they cradled each side of John's face. John still had his hands on Larraq's ribcage, and he intended to keep them there! Now their eyes were locked. To himself John thought, "When your this close to someone you almost can't tell if it's a dude or a chick... almost."

Slowly Larraq began to move his head in closer, tilting it slightly to one side.

John said encouragingly to himself. "Come on you can do this... Do it for the home team!"

Unconsciously, John licked his lips as he closed his eyes.

Softly, ever so softly he felt Larraq's lips touch his. Tentatively he reciprocated with ultra soft, slow kisses. This went on for quite a while. John became aware that Larraq had varied his technique. As he planted his kisses he was starting to open his mouth slightly. But they weren't really kisses, were they? They were more like, what...? What a gold fish does. Bop- Bop- Bop- Bop- Bop -open -close -open -close- This was not the puckering action you make when two people kiss! John couldn't take it any longer. He pulled his head away.

Both of their hands were still in the same place as when they had started. But now John grabbed and held Larraq's hands in his. Larraq had a very puzzled look on his face and somberly asked John " Did I do something wrong, don't you like to do this kizzing?"

John laughed out loud. "Kizzing huh, who told you I liked kizzing?"

"Aeryn Sun. She loves to talk about you and all the illogical things that you did... do."

Larraq realized his mistake to late, he knew he had ruined everything by mentioning Aeryn Sun.

John closed his eyes and lowered his head and was silent for a long moment, he still however held Larraq by the hands. When John Crichton raised his head he kept his eyes closed. The first couple words from his lips were inaudible, but then very faintly Larraq could hear him mumbling something about how; he's not a fag, how he doesn't DO guys, that it's nothing personal...

Now it was Larraq who closed his eyes and just sat listening to John Crichton speak, he had again started to trail off into soft mumblings and then became absolutely quiet.

Larraq just sat motionless, with his eyes closed in the deafening silence, he was trying to savor these last few moments with John Crichton. When he did finally opened his eyes, it was now John Crichton who was staring, intently at him. He met the gaze and summoned all his energy to flow through his eyes and hands into John Crichton to make him understand...

This time when John spoke he was clear and concise.

"Look, I'm no fuckin' fag! Let's get that straight right now, but I am human... And the point has been clearly made, I ain't getting out of this hell hole anytime soon, right? Larraq nodded. "So, here's the deal..." John Crichton was still on his knees between his legs, he shifted himself a bit and repositioned his grip on Larraq's hands so that their fingers were now totally intertwined.

John took a deep breath and began " I am lonely! Fuckin' lonely! So God damn fuckin' lonely that I am willing to mess around with you." Larraq knit his eyebrows a bit. "Now don't take it personal. I'm not like you. I wasn't born this way, or I didn't decide to make a lifestyle choice like you maybe did. I am with you ONLY because of circumstance. That's it! When I'm out a here, were through. Comprende! "

Larraq couldn't quite believe what he had heard. With a croaky voice he asked " Does this mean I can kizz you again?"

"kizz me, No. I mean yes, but the word is kiss and no you can't continue, I mean for Christ sake were not Koi. Listen, how about this, I will teach you how to kiss... and while were on the subject. We will definitely NOT be doing any horizontal mambo, if you know what I mean." snapped John.

"No I don't think I know what you mean, but I am glad we can kissss again, I would like very much for you to teach it to me John Crichton." Larraq beamed.

" OK, well first, move over, my knees are killing me." John grunted as he sat next to Larraq " And knock off the John Crichton routine, just call me John. Hey, how long can you be here anyway, aren't you worried about big daddy Crais coming home?

"Captain Crais will not bother us today John Cr... John." Larraq replied.

"Alright," exclaimed John "God, I can't believe I'm doing this... OK, just do what I do, until you get the hang of it, there aren't any real rules, except maybe don't kiss like a frickin' fish."

"One question John?" "Yeah what?" Tentativly Larraq asked. "Must my eyes always remain closed?" "Uh, No. Why?" " I think I want to look at you when we kisss, if that's OK?" "Whatever... whatever floats your boat." John retorted.

John was now next to Larraq on the edge of the bed. He untwined their hands and put one of his hands onto Larraq's shoulder and the other onto Larraq's neck. As John closed his eyes, Larraq asked "Where do my hands go?" "Um, put them on my hips for now. " John stayed motionless for a few moments collecting his thoughts, or was he trying to cloud them?

Slowly he leaned in until he touched lips once again with Larraq. He started by giving a couple tiny little kisses on the mouth but soon decided to move over to his cheek. He needed time to get use to all of this... As John kissed Larraq's cheek and Larraq kissed his, he slowly opened his eyes. Larraq's eyes were also open. As they gazed intently at each other John stopped again. He pulled his face back a bit but did not remove his hands. He continued to look at Larraq with a very strange expression. Larraq said nothing. Finally John made a sound like he had come to some sort of a decision and leaned in once again.

This time John's kisses were less tentative. With their eyes locked on each other, Larraq returned them in kind. Ever so slowly, little by little, John's lips parted and the kissing became very moist and a bit more aggressive.

Larraq's head was spinning, never in his life had he ever tasted anything so sweet as John Crichton. Just when Larraq was positive nothing could top this, John slipped the tip of his tongue over Larraq's lips. The second time John did this, Larraq met him at the gate.

That was all it took for John to go over the edge. He drove his tongue into Larraq's hot, wet mouth with a vengeance. Larraq was quite shocked at this rapid change of events and it must have showed. John let out a little giggle and mumbled with his tongue still connected to Larraq's "It's OK, just kinda do what I do." So he did...

John now had Larraq's head in both hands, sometimes grabbing and even pulling at his hair as he hungrily kissed him. It was almost as if John were trying to devour him whole. Larraq found the whole thing quite intriguing, not really sure of it's purpose, but overall a very pleasurable experience.

Larraq learned in a very short time that kissing could be a lot like combat. One partners tongue doing battle to conquer the others territory. Sometimes these frenzied maneuvers involved the clashing and grinding of teeth, causing blood to be drawn. These kissings could also be sweet, soft and surrendering. Going from one extreme to the other in a manner of microns.

Larraq had tentatively at first, started to move his hands up onto John's back. He was now slowly trying to move them back around to John's chest. With each tiny advancing movement he would hold it to see if it would be met with resistance, when it was not, he advanced a bit further.

As Larraq was executing Operation Fondle... John was lost in his own set of thoughts. He was totally amazed at how enjoyable all of this actually was... He was no longer grossed out at the thought of kissing a man. He was playing tonsil tag with this killing machine and other than the slight chaffing his chin was getting from Larraq's 5 o'clock shadow, he was really kinda getting his rocks off... But he was getting a crook in his back and neck so he decided they better change positions.

He pulled away from Larraq slightly and upon reading his face said." It's OK, but lets lay down." and he pulled Larraq down next to him. They now both lay on their sides facing each other. One of Larraq's arms was trapped underneath him, but he didn't mind. John now had one arm under Larraq's neck and with the other one he was slowly scraping his nails lightly up and down Larraq's other arm . They just stayed like this for a few moments, silently gazing into each others eyes. Finally it was John who broke the spell by starting to chuckle.

"What is it?" Larraq asked tentatively. "Is something wrong?" "No. No nothings wrong. That's just it, this is the happiest I've been... well you know." "Yes," started Larraq. "I can't imagine what you have been going through. It must..." But he was cut off by John placing a finger onto Larraq's lips and saying "Shhhhh.." Then he replaced his finger with a light, soft kiss. They did not continue the battling, war like kissing method that they had mainly engaged in earlier. These kisses were even more complex. Larraq learned that an even wider, more extensive series of emotions can be expressed through this game called kissing.

They were both entwined in each others arms but now a much greater percent of Larraq's weight was on John. John was flat on his back gleefully kissing and nuzzling Larraq's neck when he started to giggle again. For the first time Larraq was not alarmed. "What is it this time? Larraq slyly asked. "I'm not use to this." and he slapped Larraq's backside. " Your a big fella aren't 'cha." And with that Larraq shifted his weight off to one side and raised himself up onto one elbow beside John and beamed a huge smiled down upon him. John raised one finger up and lazily dragged it around the edge of Larraq's forehead, then ran it lightly down to the tip of his nose, over his lips and off his chin. In response, Larraq did the same thing with his finger over John's face. Then brought it to meet John's and they let all their fingers entwine once again.

" How long can you stay?" John asked, fearing the answer. " I only have a little while left now." " When... I mean, Will you come back? whispered John. " Wild Skorvian breeding mares couldn't keep me away!" " Wow, I've dealt with Skorvians." John snorted "You must really like me." With that remark Larraq just closed his eyes, it was his turn to chuckle.

With his eyes still closed Larraq asked " John, did you receive my gift?"

John had known this would eventually come up, he responded weakly. " Yeah." " Don't you like it?" " Well, if it's what I think it is... Up until today, to be honest, No." John replied. " And after today?" " I don't know?" was all the more John would say on the subject, so Larraq dropped it.

Larraq used these last few moments they had together to gaze down at John. Tentatively Larraq began to slowly move his free hand over John, who now lay very still with his eyes closed. He started at the collar bone with one finger, tracing tiny circles. He then moved up along the neck, over his Adam's Apple { that's what John had called it.} along the jaw line. Up, over, around, and in the ear, which made John giggle. He used all five fingers to rub and comb through his shaggy, short brown hair. This brought deep groans of satisfaction from John's throat. He then began to drag all five fingers down over John's eyes, slowly moving them off center to trace down along the cheek. As his thumb got caught on the lower lip, John opened his mouth and dragged the thumb in. He rolled his tongue around and around it. Larraq instinctively began to play keep away, trying to move it just slightly ahead of the tip of John's wet tongue. To counter this tactic John bit down, ever so slightly. Larraq pulled his thumb out and shook it in the air. John still had his eyes closed, but now wore a huge shit eattin' grin. " Didn't your Momma ever teach you not to play with fire?" And with that comment John opened his eyes and reached up and pulled Larraq down to once again, with nothing more than his mouth, begin another all out assault on his senses.

Beep, beep, beep... could be faintly heard coming from Larraq's comlink. They both knew what it meant...

Larraq stood up immediately and headed for the door. John was still in a groggy daze on the bed and called out to him as he strolled through the opening doorway. "Hey, don't forget to..."

But Larraq was gone.

END Love the One your With, Act II by Loki