Aeryn didn't have to go in to work for a few hours yet, but her relaxing morning ended about the time Talyn tried to pull himself up using the sofa and grabbed onto the pillow instead. He didn't even hit anything when he fell, but the fact that he fell at all seemed to be enough to upset him.

He didn't cry for long, especially not with Aeryn telling him simply, "You're not even hurt," but when he stopped he just decided to stay in a bad mood, fussing and dropping things to the ground whenever he could reach something.

Aeryn couldn't do much but sigh at him, muttering, "Of course you have to have an attitude about this sort of thing."


[Open for the husband, or calls, or general distractions.]

Days off were wonderful things sometimes, even if it meant doing nothing. Actually, doing nothing had become a preferable way to spend time when Aeryn could get it.

For instance, right now she was sitting in front of the television with Talyn, who was sitting up all on his own and babbling back at an episode of Smile Time with his favorite toy in hand. Even if Aeryn thought she was enjoying the show more than he was and she would never ever ever admit that.

And then she'd look down at him to see his reactions and have to turn the plastic water pistol around in his hand. "Please stop putting that end in your mouth, Talyn, it worries me."


[This is my half-assed attempt at doing something today. Can be open for the hubby or for phone calls, whatever.]

Of course Aeryn had to work Christmas Eve. The fact that she had to deal with all the last-minute shoppers almost made it not worth the money. Shockingly, she wasn't much of a people person.

She thought she'd escaped by being able to spend a lot of time in the stockroom, but came out when she was called on the speaker into a mass of parents trying to get through the crowd to the toy aisle. She could tell they were parents due to the screaming children in the carts. Not for the first time, she was extremely grateful that Talyn was good. There was one mother in particular who caught her eye, as both of her small boys were throwing full-on tantrums that she was completely ignoring, even when one threw himself on the ground in front of and old woman's cart. (Aeryn actually noticed a lot of behavior like that working here.)

For a moment she thought she'd blacked out, but when she felt a little less disoriented the boys were still screaming and the mother was now answering her ringing cell phone and covering her free ear.

It had been a long time since Aeryn'd snapped a neck, but she was sure she could still do it. She'd give hera by since it was Christmas.

After spending yesterday at John's family's Thanksgiving, Aeryn had to be sure to be back home in time to go to work today. At Wal-Mart. At four-something in the morning. The poor thing had been unemployed this time last year, she didn't know how bad it would really be.

Which was why when she finally got back home way later than she had expected, she made sure Talyn was all settled before sitting down at the computer.


To: Fandom High Group
From: Aeryn Sun
Subject: (None)

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME WHAT BLACK FRIDAY REALLY WAS.


-A


[If you think you got it, you probably did. Open for calls, E-mails, whatever, I m bored and haven't tortured Aeryn in a while.]

A mysterious woman in a trenchcoat and Nicole Richie sunglasses walked through town, mysteriously. If not for the questioning squirrel in her path, she may have stopped.

But she did, and smiled down at him, removed her sunglasses and said, "Yes. I am Aeryn Sun."

It had been a long day, what with falling off a cliff and being presumed dead, appearing to her alcoholic husband in angel form, and then reappearing mysteriously, but now Aeryn could look up at the town before her and say, "And I'm glad to be back."

After so long on the run from the mob and a very powerful Greek family, Aeryn was glad to be settled down in her old home again with her own real family. True, she kept a bag of supplies ready in case they needed to take off suddenly, but the chances of that happening were less and less as time went on. And Talyn had grown into such a wonderful young police officer, and the best part was that Aeryn had barely aged a day.

Still, she felt restless at times, which was why she had to do things like take long walks around the island. She'd climb onto the rocky bits and look out at the ocean and remember things like her childhood, simpler times before she and John had to start their life on the run. Yes, she was pretty happy with her life these-

Oh, hey, that was a rock she was slipping on.

Aeryn managed to grab a hold of a rock before she fell, but her grip was slipping and she didn't know how she was going to hold on. Thinking she was done for, she was amazed to see a squirrel at the top of the rock, offering its tiny hand.

Aeryn let go with one hand to try and grab his, but she couldn't do it, and plunged into the icy waters below, pretty sure the last thing she heard was a tiny squirrelly "Noooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Aeryn generally had one day off a week, and she was especially glad for it today. Talyn had been up most of the night seemingly for no reason and going in to work today would have been Interesting. Of course it meant he was tired now, and was sleeping comfortably which Aeryn knew because she was still getting up from the living room often to check on him.

Someone should probably stop her before she wears tracks in the carpeting.


[Open for calls, E-mails, whatever look I don't care, I just know I'm probably gonna be here in bed all today and demand entertainment.]

They'd waited a while to bring Talyn home, mostly because Aeryn didn't really want to subject a newborn to intergalactic space travel just yet. However, they couldn't hang out in the Uncharted Territories forever, and it was actually a really good idea not to stay there for too long, and that meant it was time to bring the baby back finally.

Having become nicely- and wholly- attached, Aeryn was still holding Talyn as they walked into the apartment. "Welcome home," she told him, not caring that he had no idea what she was saying.


[For the babydaddy!]

There were a lot of times, especially over the last year, where the tiniest part of Aeryn might have wished she could have been human. Well, frell that, Peacekeeper pregnancies were blissfully short. She was engineered for battle, which didn't exactly lend itself to nine months of waiting, even if the labor had seemed that long. And involved many, many, many creative threats. And maybe some hitting.

For now, though, she was still in the medical facility they'd found, half-curled around the tiny sleeping newborn that she currently thought was the most perfect thing ever.

[For the babydaddy, and bless you canon. YAY BABY.]

About thirty microts after the procedure was over, Aeryn thought that maybe this had been a horrible idea and wondered if she could take it back. And the answer was no, of course she couldn't. She really had felt ready, and then as soon as the stasis was actually released, it didn't seem like she ever would be.

It made more sense to stay there till she actually had the baby, in case of any problems; it wasn't like there had ever actually been a human/Sebacean hybrid before. She'd traded a couple weapons in for the currency to get lodging while they were there, which meant she could blame the uncomfortable bed for being the reason sleep wasn't coming so easily. In reality it was just too many thoughts in her head all at once, probably in large part to do with new hormones and all.

Really, she probably should have waited the other six years for this.

Aeryn spent a good amount of time at work today trying to get information on certain things. Mostly all those really boring work things to do with vacation time and insurance and a lot of other stuff she was generally clueless about. Still, no one could say she hadn't been doing her research.

She got home a little later than usual, feeling a little nervous. Which was wrong and that could stop right now, yes.

So for the moment she was busying herself telling Bertram which spots he'd missed in cleaning the floor. It was sort of like a hobby now.

[Open for those who be living there.]

The good thing about the new management at Aeryn's second job coming in and replacing all the old employees with ones they selected was that when it was her turn to get the axe, at least she still had the first job to fall back on. At the end of her shift, one of her coworkers that had also been let go, Dave, decided to give her a ride back to the apartment.

( cut as i'm nice. shut up, i so am )

Aeryn didn't know much about bachelorette parties, except that they didn't usually involve paintball. Therefore online research had ended up with everyone in a bar near Yale, and a few little accessories that she didn't get personally but thought Rory would like. And she was getting a frelling veil.


[For the bachelorette party girls and SP is love omg]

The store had been open for a couple of hours when Aeryn finally emerged from the stockroom. She had no idea how long it had been, really, but she knew it felt like forever and she was pretty sure there had never been a greater waste of her time.

( cut for length )

The flipside of getting a chance to go out and help save a friend and hurt some things in the process was that afterwards, it was back to normal things, like filling out job applications in front of the TV and feeling uncomfortable in the current style of clothes. There might have been a little part of her that wondered if it would be wrong to wear a pulse pistol around the apartment, just for the night.

The hotel had a modded, la brunch on Sunday mornings, which prompted handwavey notice to the wedding guests that they were welcome to hang out there if they didn't need to leave early. A section had been claimed for them, so they wouldn't have to worry too much about freaking out other hotel guests with talk of things like weaponry.

Unless they wanted to.

[OCDless and up for anyone who might be hanging around the hotel before heading back to Fandom/LA/Colorado/Yale/the desert/parts unknown/etc. etc. etc.]

Once the wedding was over, the Sun-Crichton party was ushered back indoors to the reception inside the Charles Hotel. The room was done up very nicely in red and black (for no reason, really), lit with candles and Christmas lights, several large tables set up around the room in front of the very long head table.

The hotel workers were busy getting food ready, and the doors were open, allowing the wedding party and guests to take their seats and enjoy the party.

Friday was busier than Aeryn had anticipated somehow, with people coming in from out of town, followed by the rehearsal at the hotel where the ceremony and reception would take place. And personally, she had no idea how anyone remembered how all of this sort of thing went, and she thought it was kind of stupid how much emphasis was put on something as simple as walking, but she'd go with it, as apparently these things were important. Or something.

Afterwards, the group made their way to a pizza place nearby to settle in and settle down and have one good night out before tomorrow got more stressful.


[Up early for SP. For bridal party, dates, and other guests to the Friday thingie yay!
ETA: For clarification, cuz a couple people have asked. If you were told you were welcome to the dinner, you were invited. Otherwise the wedding stuff takes place tomorrow.]

Aeryn wasn't planning on checking the schedule when she left for the night, because she wasn't supposed to be on it at all. If Mark hadn't said "See you on Tuesday" as she was heading for the door, she wouldn't have turned back to go and check.

( in which aeryn does a dumb thing )

There was a week to go. A week. Aeryn had no idea how that had even happened, or where the last few months had gone, and it still didn't feel like everything was settled yet. And there was only a week. Seriously.

It was one of the rare Saturdays that she didn't have to work, second in a row now, and she was spending her day off trying to ignore everything wedding-related. Except that anytime she did something as simple as turn on the TV and flip through channels, she would come across something like a wedding-themed show marathon and be left muttering at it.

Today was one of the days Aeryn worked a double shift, because her coworkers were flakes and she was more than happy to take the overtime nowadays, even if the job sucked and she hated every moment of it. It meant she got home way too late and hated the human race in general even more, but she was used to that by now.

She took her shoes off at the door, trying not to be too loud when she closed the door, just in case anyone was already asleep.

Aeryn doesn't have to work until later, but staying in bed late kind of went out the window along with the not sleeping much thing. Which she knows is pointless and she expects that to stop, but for now, it means she's already out of bed and getting ready to go for a run. Maybe a very long run.

If pressed, Aeryn would say that the reason that she didn't sleep well last night was that she wasn't used to the bed after spending the weekend in the hotel, even though being transferred from place to place and sleeping in different places depending on assignment was practically ingrained into her genetic code. She hadn't slept well all weekend, actually, and it wasn't that she hadn't had a good time over homecoming. She really had. She liked being able to see her friends and catch up and be able to see them when she talked to them instead of using the phone. This was all while ignoring the Luxan, of course. And Lee.

There was just one little thing that just kept nagging at her.

Giving up early, Aeryn got up and dressed, and headed out, returning a while later with a bag in hand to lock herself in the bathroom. She'd wanted to do this earlier, just to have some sort of proof, but she didn't want to risk it ending up on the radio. Privacy was one plus Cambridge had over Fandom.

She read the directions about five times before taking the test, and about ten times after seeing the result, just in case she could blame this on not being a native English-reader. She knew better, though. She'd done it right, and she didn't think Aly would lie to her. She did consider making another trip out, though. Maybe a different brand would be wrong. Best out of three, even.

Aeryn had acclimated to a lot of things since she'd been on Earth, and even more since coming to Cambridge. And the one thing she hated doing more than anything besides that job was laundry. On the other hand, the alternative was letting John do it, and she wanted her clothes left without bleach writing.

( in which aeryn meets a new friend )

Aeryn hates work. A lot. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for her coworkers, or her boss, or the customers, or the job itself, but... Okay, Aeryn just hates the job.

So it might be a little unusual when she comes home later than usual after the closing shift, though she doesn't look very happy about it.

[Open for the Cambridge peeps, should they be in the hizzouse, and up early for time zones. Izzle. Omg it's early.]

Aeryn's learned that some dates have meaning, that the time between one yearly milestone and the next can be a really big deal. Thinking from last August 13 to this one, making it through an entire year almost deserves a congratuations.

Which is why she's seriously pissed off that the little blonde bitch with the stupid name that she never remembers called in sick again and didn't get anyone to cover for her, which means Aeryn is pulling a double shift on her anniversary and trying really hard not to threaten customers or coworkers.

After handwavily saying goodbye to Rory and Anakin, Aeryn headed off for her first day of work. Well, first day of work at a regular job on Earth that she hadn't ended up in accidentally. The uniform was a little odd to her, but that was nothing compared to the buttons they attacked her with, and the little nametag that read "ERIN" that they promised to fix. She'd spent her morning following around a nice but cheerful coworker named Caitlin who kept trying to get her to smile and be friendlier to the customers and about the time she tried to explain the customer is always right thing, Aeryn wondered if this all wasn't a horrible mistake.

She's more than happy to get home, dropping her purse on the floor by the door because she doesn't care, fully intending to change clothes immediately.

The apartment's looking more like an apartment, what with furniture and all, and Aeryn is even dressed more or less like Aeryn today, and overall she's just glad to see people.

As are the fish, who are looking very cheerful today. You can totally tell. And then they forget why they're cheerful three seconds later. Oh well.