Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7354363.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Babylon_5
  Relationship:
      Delenn/John_Sheridan
  Character:
      John_Sheridan, Delenn, Michael_Garibaldi
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-07-01 Words: 4502
****** Prologue ******
by coucherdesoleil
Summary
     Sheridan/Delenn romance. Don't try to look for a plot in this fic,
     because there really isn't one.
Notes
     Sheridan/Delenn romance. Don't try to look for a plot in this fic,
     because there really isn't one.
     (This was a very early fic of mine written while the show originally
     aired, so it may not be the best and I also am not certain of how
     well it has aged.)
     Disclaimers: Babylon 5 doesn't belong to me and I'm not making any
     money off this.
     NB: Italics indicate characters' thoughts.

"Your report, Commander?" Sheridan asked as he walked into C&C.
"Still no response to our attempts at communication. Six life signs detected,
which seem to be fluctuating. We've dispatched two ships to escort her
to Docking Bay 5. Medics are standing by."
Sheridan nodded absently in reply. This was the fifth Earth ship to arrive in
Babylon 5 space in the past few weeks. The previous four had carried fugitives
from Earth seeking asylum on B5. From the accounts they gave, things were not
going well on Earth.
There had been some scientists who had refused to let their work be dictated
and controlled by the Earth government, soldiers like himself who had refused
to use violence against their own people, families who had been away and
returned to their homes on Mars to realise that the friends and relatives they
had left behind were dead, and many who knew too much and ran, fearing for
their lives and their families...
He had done his best to make certain they found some welcome here on Babylon 5.
Which wasn't much, given that the station's financial resources,
already inadequate (as had been demonstrated several times) before their
secession were now severely diminished.
"Captain?" He rubbed his eyes, trying to erase fatigue.
"Yes Commander?"
"I just wanted to let you know that we have six more refugees being checked out
in medlab. Seems they should be fine. Their ship's just one more piece of
junk on the floor or Docking Bay Five, though."
He nodded and the day wound its way along...
===============================================================================
"John? Are you all right?" A gentle voice danced into his thoughts. He smiled
at the woman standing before him.
"I'm fine Delenn. And how are you today?" He said, taking her hand as she sat
beside him on the garden bench.
"I am worried about you." He looked at the concern in her eyes.
"Me? Why?"
"When was the last time you slept?"
He looked away.
"There's just so much to plan, Delenn. So much to do that it seems like it
never gets done."
"I know. But you must take better care of yourself, nevertheless." He
looked down.
"Come with me." She said suddenly, drawing him up.
"Where?" He asked.
She only smiled.
===============================================================================

They walked along the hallway of green sector hand in hand. Coming to the door
of his quarters, she looked at him, visibly waiting. Rubbing his eyes he stood
there, wondering.
"Oh,right. The door." Feeling like a fool. A tired one at that.
Once inside, she took his hand and led him to his bed. With a gesture that was
both caring and commanding she indicated to him that he was to lie down.
Sleep stole his consciousness as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He woke some time later, disoriented. What time isit? He thought to himself. It
had been a long time since he had woken up relatively rested, without the blare
of the alarm. How long had he slept for?
Surely Ivanova or one of the others would have awakened him if he was needed.
He changed and stepped outside the bedroom.
Sleep still dragged at him, which explained why he did not notice the sleeping
form on the couch until he turned around with a cup of tea in his hand to check
the wall timepiece.
Delenn.
He had momentarily forgotten that she had escorted him back here. He smiled. If
she hadn't insisted, he probably wouldn't have slept. She had apparently
decided to make certain that he did.
Also apparently, he was not the only one who was overworked, but she never
seemed to complain.
Setting his tea down on the counter he approached her softly and reached out a
hand to wake her, but stopped before completing the action.
God, she was beautiful. He was certainly not religious, but watching her at
this moment, he had no difficulty in believing in the idea of an eternal soul.
Since the first day he had met her she had seemed to shine with a brilliance
all her own. A brilliance from within. And when his world was lost she had been
a light to guide him away from despair.
Reaching his hand out again, he brushed a lock of hair away from her face.
Suddenly she awoke.
"John?" She asked, seemingly disoriented herself.
He smiled down at her. She smiled back a shy gentle smile.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked him.
"Very. I haven't felt this rested in a long time. But you musn't have been very
comfortable."
She looked down and then raised her eyes back up to his. She took his hand and
drew it towards her heart.
"Where you are I am." She said quietly.
He looked at her and gently brought his captive hand up to touch her face,
tracing her lips, her jaw, her cheek... It seemed the most natural thing in
the universe to draw her to him and kiss her. A kiss that turned into much
more...
Pausing for breath they looked at each other again while she ran her hands
along his back and his found their way to her waist, then her hips. She
moved onto his knees as he settled himself on the couch that she had been
sleeping on just a few instants before and put her head on his shoulder.
Closing her eyes she was still as he caressed her body, his mouth drifting from
her hair to her face and down her neck. Feverishly she moved her lips to his
and returned his caresses. His hands moved up to her breasts, and she felt him
brush them lightly, returning afterwards to explore them fully. He moved a hand
to the fastenings of her gown, but hesitated, looking into her eyes next to
his.
"Are you sure you want this, Delenn? Are you sure you want *me*?" He asked
softly.
Without hesitating she took his face in her hands.
"I have loved you since the first moment I saw you. In that instant of
recognition I knew that I had always loved you and that I always will." She
stopped a moment before continuing, smiling. "And desire is intrinsic to love,
is it not?" She said, half-shyly. She kissed him, guiding his hands as they
undid the elaborate fastenings of her gown. She gasped at their coolness
against her skin. She unfastened his jacket and shirt and slid it down over his
shoulders as his hands his hands continued their wanderings. Hers began a long
and arduous journey. She paused and stood to let her clothing fall to the
ground.
He paused, realizing in that instant that he had no idea exactly *how* human
she was, or more importantly, what exactly was possible. She must have seen the
questions in his eyes for she hesitated, seemingly afraid. The expression on
her face prompted him to rise quickly and take her in his arms.
"Don't worry Delenn. We'll make it work. Whatever happens, we'll make it work.
I love you and I *always* will." He looked at her, smiled, and
continued. "Whatever happens, for now until we find each other at the end of
time. And beyond." Her eyes fixed themselves on him again, full of love and,
this time, unafraid. She smiled as he kissed her again. Theirs hands began,
anew, to explore each other's bodies, followed by their mouths as the last of
their clothing fell to the ground.
She gasped again as she felt his lips on her breasts. He looked up, thinking he
had done something wrong, but smiled as she brought his lips back from
whence they came. His hands drifted to her hips and below as hers caressed his
back, then his chest as she bent down in turn to his chest.
Lower and lower her lips drifted, sensuous, feverish. He held her, stroking her
hair. Then, as he could bear it no more, he bent down and brought her up, then
guided her to the bedroom.
Once there, she laid down and made him lie next to her. Slowly, their hands and
bodies intertwined. As she rolled onto him to take him into her, doubt and fear
were mirrored in their eyes.
A doubt that was washed away when courage bade them continue. Gently,
cautiously, he entered her, and soon all conscious thought was abandoned
as instinct molded on two separate worlds took hold and drove them, knowing
nothing save insanity and each other, to a mutual climax.
===============================================================================

"Captain?" A voice broke through his reverie.
"I'm sorry Commander. You were saying?"
Ivanova looked at him closely. "You're pretty distracted today. Are you sure
you're all right?" She asked.
"Yes. I've just got a lot of things on my mind." But at least today, some of
them were pleasant. Very pleasant and very lovely. But there were other
things also, things he could not ignore, no matter how much he wanted to. "I
was just thinking that they're bound to come for us eventually. This place is
becoming more important every day."
She looked down. "I know." She said softly. "I've been thinking it for a while,
I guess. What I'm wondering is when it'll happen."
"Well, the only reason we've had the time we've had so far is because of their
losses in the last war." He back towards her. "We'll need everything we've got
to fight them, that's for sure."
She nodded. "Do you think we'll be ready for them when they come?"
"I don't know. I hope so. God willing, we will be."
"John?" Delenn broke into their conversation.
"Yes Delenn?" He answered as she came into his office.
"I've got to get back to C&C Captain. I'll see you there." Ivanova got up to
leave suddenly.
He nodded.
"So what did you want to say to me?" He asked,smiling, after Ivanova had left.
"I missed you." She said softly. "I... wanted to see you. But if you are
busy..." She turned to leave, but he reached out and caught her hand.
"Delenn, I always have time for you." He said softly, touching her cheek. She
leaned against him and he put his arms around her, burying his face in the
softness of her hair. He holding her against him he thought of the previous
night, the night they had spent in each other's arms. He remembered her touch,
her lithe body next to his, the softness of her skin, her words, her silences,
the love in her eyes, how she had gasped when pleasure overwhelmed her, and her
love...
"I wanted to see you too." He said. He took her face in his hands and searched
her eyes, to his relief finding only happiness there. He also remembered how he
had found, after the fact, that he was her first lover. She had then begun to
explain something to him, but had not had the time to get more than two
or three words out before C&C called him to duty. He had spent much of the day,
when not immersed in station and war, worrying about her.
His link demanded his attention. He moved to answer.
"Captain?" Garibaldi's voice came made itself heard over the link.
"Yes Mr. Garibaldi?"
"I think you should come down and see this." For some reason he sounded amused.
Sheridan frowned.
"I'll be right there." He said before closing the link. "We never do get any
time off, do we?" He said ruefully to Delenn.
She kissed his face. "I have no regrets." She said simply, softly.
He kissed her and walked out. On his way out he turned to look at her,
wondering at her.
===============================================================================

"What's on your mind, Mr. Garibaldi?" Sheridan asked as he reached the other
man.
Garibaldi was stading in the middle of an *extremely* loud crowd. As for the
man himself, his face had that expression which one's countenance bears when
one is trying one's utmost not to burst one's gut laughing.
Sheridan *hoped* he would like this.
"Uh, well Captain, it's like this..."
Sheridan stood thoughtfully when he had finished. This was one for the books.
"So what's everyone doing here?" He asked Garibaldi.
"Weeelllll, they were pretty loud."
"Hmmm. Well, let's try and be diplomatic about this." Sheridan stepped up to
one of two aliens being held in check by security.
"...I *demand* an apology! I am Shi'vagh'no'gaghi'guano son of
Shi'vagh'no'gaghi'nano, son of Shi'vagh'na'never'nini, son of..."
"I think you better stop him sir." Garibaldi said to Sheridan as they attempted
to press through the crowd in the direction of the aforementioned individuals.
" The last time he started that line of conversation he went on for about
twenty minutes straight before we could distract him."
Sheridan stopped in his tracks.
"Twenty minutes?" Sheridan asked. Garibaldi nodded. Sheridan gave him a strange
look before continuing on.
"I'm Captain Sheridan. What seems to be the problem?" Sheridan asked the two
parties when he and Garibaldi reached them. The elder alien, which Sheridan
recognized as a Shi'vagh'n thanks to his blue skin and green hair, and who was
still reciting his genealogy, interrupted himself to answer.
"I have been insulted! My clan has been insulted! My world has been insulted!
And you claim you are a species which welcomes those not like you!!!
HAH!!!!!!!!" The man seemed to be verging on hysterics.
"Sir, I am here to listen to your complaint." Sheridan said to him. That seemed
to calm him down a little. If only a little.
"May I hear your complaint?" He asked again.
"You shall hear it!!! I have been violated! Used I tell you! Used!!!!! And no
one seems to comprehend this most distressing fact!" He pointed to the other
alien next to him, who was a Vendrizi.
"This...individual... has...Oooh, it is too distressing, I cannot say it."
Sheridan inwardly lifted his eyes upward. This was going to take some doing.
"Am I correct in assuming that you believe this is the individual who
impregnated you?"
"I do not believe!!!!! It is the truth!!!!!!"
"And why him? If you don't mind my asking."
The man looked down, then back towards Sheridan.
"It seems there is no alternative but to expose the entire sordid affair...
Very well. He was in my proximity during my time of Shi'vagh'na'what'ever. My
species is composed entirely of 'males' ( I suppose that is the best way to
define it in your crude and biased language), which means that in a way, males
carry the young. In actuality what occurs is that every twelve years we enter a
period of fertility, the Shi'vagh'na'what'ever, where we can be impregnated by
others of our species. To again use your terms, we are male all the time and
females once every twelve years. Breathing the same air as another of our
species in this time is sufficient to cause impregnation. Among my people it
has become a mark of respect for one another to employ special air filtering
systems which ensure that this does not occur. We know of no other way to
prevent impregnation. I had let my people know that my time was coming, and so
it was decided, since I wished no young at this time, that none of my people
would set foot on Babylon 5 until my time was completed. And I can *assure* you
that none of my people would *ever* defy this decision. My time came, and
yesterday I found I was carrying. I related the situation to station security
and your Commander Ivanova, who by the way, made some mention of your being
busy with *very* important matters, for which I do thank you, and through
observing your security records, found that this...person...was the only one to
pass by my quarters during the power failure. This morning I decided to make
the said individual realize his responsibilities, when this, this... brute...
began to attack me, snarling something utterly incomprehensible, and..."
Our dear Captain, at this point, succeeded in interupting the man's diatribe.
"How about seeking a doctor's opinion on the question?" He interceded with a
flash of inspiration.
"What?" From the little green haired man.
*Rumble,snarl* from the eight legged Vendrizi.
===============================================================================

"So how did the paternity test go?" Ivanova had asked Sheridan with a twinkle
in her eye when the latter came into C&C. Said latter gave her a dirty look
before getting on with his business. It had taken some doing, but he had
managed to have a DNA test done which confirmed that the Vendrizi was not the
'father'. In fact, it turned out to be even more of a physiological
impossibility than he had thought, since the Vendrizi didn't even produce
sperm. It also turned out the... deed... had occured due to the combined effect
of a power failure and an unnanounced visit by another individual of the
'man's' species, who had not heard of the temporary travel restriction. Upon
being introduced, both proud parents had apologised profusely and left with
smiles on their blue faces. After which 'crisis' Sheridan had returned to the
business of running a station and preparing for a battle that might well
destroy them.
With these thoughts in his head he prepared to enter his quarters for some much
needed rest.
"John?" It was Delenn. He turned to greet her as she came down the hall towards
him. Wordlessly they stepped into his quarters and let the door close behind
them. She moved into his arms and he held on to her. But there was something...
"Delenn."
"Yes?" She answered, looking up at him, surprised by the seriousness of his
voice.
"I...wanted to ask you something."
"Yes?"
He released her. "Are sure you're all right about this?"
She looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Are you sure you want to be with me?"
"Why are you asking me this? Did I not say so? Are you doubting me?" She seemed
genuinely shocked at his lack of faith in her.
He stepped up to her and gathered her in his arms. With his lips in her hair,
his heart beating next to hers and, in his voice, all the seriousness and
love he could muster he said, "I have never doubted you and I never will. From
now until the day I die I will love you. I was... only concerned about you."
He took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes before continuing. "Your
people are bound to be unhappy about this. I...also don't know your customs.
I want you to be happy." Somehow, words failed him.
She looked at him. "I have no regrets." She said. "And as for my happiness, I
have never felt such joy. I had no idea it was even possible." Her voice
caught in her throat. She kissed him, and all save happiness and passion was
forgotten.
===============================================================================

Later, he lay watching her as she slept, her body warm against his.

Unbidden, a few lines of poetry filled his thoughts:
Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken...
===============================================================================

[Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

(William Shakespeare)]
===============================================================================

Sheridan sighed as he entered his quarters. He had spent the entire day arguing
with ambassadors from what used to be the league of non-aligned worlds about
preparation and strategy concerning the war they found themselves in.
He sighed again.
At least he had managed to make them agree with him on the essentials, as well
as commit to his battle plan. But several elements of the situation still
bothered him. For one, with such a myriad alliance there was a serious
potential for leaks in terms of information concerning their planning and
strategy. Yet he had no choice but to trust the ambassadors themselves and
their judgement in terms of who they would confide in with a certain amount of
information if they were going to make this work. He smiled as he remembered
how staunchly Delenn had stood by him and each of his ideas, how she had
smoothed things over whenever a particularly recalcitrant ambassador had
dismissed one or more of his concerns or suggestions. It would definitely not
have been so easy (if you could call it easy-he interrupted himself wryly) if
she had not been there, with her usual patience and support.
He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he lay down in bed.
Today (if you could call it a day) had been another double-or rather triple?-
shift intermingled with the meeting with the ambassadors...
He ordered the lights off and began to await sleep. He turned onto one side,
then another as it escaped him. The darkness around him seemed to take
shape and consciousness and he thought he glimpsed a noise. But no, it was...it
was...Then there was a touch, on his arm, heard only with the barest edge of
consciousness, but which somehow persisted, refusing to leave. Its insistence
brought him back from the abyss. It was a touch that he knew well, a touch
infinitely dear to his heart, recognized immediately as he cried out her name
and crushed her to him in the forgetfulness of passion. Her hands trailed along
his arms, his back, his thighs, his legs and back again as she tried to express
what was in her heart and in her lungs and in her head as she tried to feel
him, smell him and breathe him all at once. Their hands and arms and legs and
mouths intermingled as their clothes found themselves suddenly bereft and two
bare bodies held each other, caressing all that was physical, feeling all that
was not.
===============================================================================
She awoke to find him with an arm around her still. Smiling, she took a moment
to move even closer to him and kiss her love before rising. As she dressed, she
looked at him again. Time was something there never seemed to be enough of. No
time to rest, no time to be, no time for anything but what was beyond them.
She walked out into the cooking area. He would rise soon, and if she knew him
and his situation at all, something of immediate urgency would almost
certainly declare itself before he had the time to eat. She busied herself with
what she could find. It had to be more palatable than the flarn he had cooked
for her not so long ago. She smiled at the memory.
She was startled to feel arms entwine about her waist and a hard body press
against hers.
"How did you sleep?" A voice whispered softly in her hair. Her arms, almost of
their own volition, moved up to circle his neck.
"Very well." She answered. His hands slid down, caressing, around her hips,
then over across her stomach as his mouth wove its way down her neck, touching
but barely not. His hands moved back up to her breasts, feeling her. Then they
began to unfasten her robes.
"We...we have...our duties, we must attend to them..." She said softly as one
hand held her gently under her jaw, the other gently slipping her clothes off
her body. He seemed to pause.
"Time enough for that later." He said softly. She was puzzled at his tone of
voice, but these thoughts were chased from her mind as his hands lifted
her hair and his lips wove their way from her neck on down her back...on down
to her thighs...
"I..." She attempted to finish what she was saying but she could not remember
what that was. She closed her eyes as he turned her around so that she faced
him and his hands, his hands...He lifted he onto the kitchen counter and she
gasped as she felt him inside her. All was forgotten save the rythm, maddening
and excrutiating, rising in pitch until all was brightness behind her eyes...
===============================================================================

"Captain Sheridan, I am *most* unhappy about this situation! We have been
awaiting your permission to dock for four hours! An hour ago you said it
was only a temporary slowdown due to an accident in one of your docking bays
and that I would be allowed to dock soon! We are still waiting Captain! Still!"
The voice on the other end grew shrill. Sheridan twisted his tongue seven times
around his mouth, so to speak, in order to keep from giving the man a piece of
his mind.
"Captain Dji'vaan, I apologize again for the delay, but the repairs have
unfortunately taken longer than anticipated. They should be finished soon,
assuming there are no more unanticipated problems. We are doing the best that
we can. Thank you for your patience." He shut the link just as the other was
about to launch into another tirade.
He sighed. Ivanova gave him an understanding look. There had been a chemical
leak earlier in the day in one of the docking bays. According to Garibaldi, it
didn't look like sabotage, although the security chief typically wasn't ruling
that out. Either way it had halted all incoming traffic for two hours, and
slowed it down for the next four after that.
He gazed out at the majestic starscape in front of him and paused as thoughts,
with the color of dreams and memory, taunted him. A rhyme...
Cease dreames, th' Images of day desires,
To modell forth the passsions of the morrow...
The memory of a dream... Or was it a
nightmare? A cry, a voice, cutting
through a darkness that enveloped him
like sadness... Grief... Betrayal...
Understanding... Of what?
He could remember no more.
===============================================================================
[Care-charmer Sleep, sonne of the sable night,
Brother to death, in silent darkness borne:
Relieue my languish, and restore the light,
With darke forgetting of my cares returne.
And let the day be time enough to mourne
The shipwrack of my ill aduentied youth:
Let waking eues suffise to waile their scorne,
Without the torment of the nights vntruth.
Cease dreames, th' Images of day desires,
To modell forth the passions of the morrow:
Neuer let rising Sunne approue you liers,
To adde more griefe to aggrauate my sorrow.
Still let me sleep, imbracing clouds in vaine,
And neuer wake to feele the daies disdaine.

(Care-Charmer Sleep, by Samuel Daniel, 1562-1619.)]
===============================================================================
THE END
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