Ciel raced around the apartment trying to get ready for her evening out. It had been a hard week of training for her in holographic arts, and tonight she felt going out should be her just reward. "Tani, do you know where my hair clip is?" she yelled, going to the chiming door, her tunic half undone and her shoes hanging from her fingers. She was paying so much attention to the mismatched clasps on her tunic; she barely noted it was her oldest sister Noela at the door. Someone was with her, but she was too distracted by her state of getting ready to notice.
The urgency of Noela's voice however got her attention, "is Tatiana here? I need her. I am in a bit of trouble and I need her help." That was when she noticed that her sisters' companion was a man, and not just any man but a stunningly handsome man, or would be if he weren't trying to keep an icepack held to his very swollen and bruised nose.
Ciel looked from one to the other looking for signs of a struggle on Noela. "Were you attacked? I just knew that job would get you in trouble at some point."
Noela heaved a sigh in response and her companion appeared to be doing his best not to chuckle. He was also looking from one sister to the next with a quizzical expression on his face. Ciel smiled assuming that he had saved her sister from certain doom, and never one to lose the chance to flirt with the nearest available man, poured every available atom of her pert attractiveness into it.
"Ciel, this is Qui-Gon. You know my friend, the Jedi, that I have told you about." Noela's tone suggested all too carefully if subtly that Ciel would be wise to keep her charms to herself.
Well that was certainly designed to take the air out of a helioball. Ciel shrugged and turned back to Noela. "So what's up beside the fact that your friend has a very swollen nose?"
"I broke it. I accidentally slammed his face with my kitchen doors." Noela explained her voice flat. Ciel let out a whistle, "Well then I guess you two had better come in while I find Tatiana. Natural Disaster Noela relief is on the way, don't you worry Jedi!" Ciel winked, as Noela grabbed the pillow from the nearest chair and threw it at the disappearing figure.
Noela plopped down on her sisters' couch with teenaged-like abandon. Qui-Gon carefully sat next to her, and hugged her close. She had been in this mood since the accident. She hadn't fallen apart; that wasn't in her nature; she had taken care of all arrangements from their dinner reservations to sending for extra clothes from the Temple when he refused to go there to see the Temple Healers, sure that they would keep him locked up, thus ruining their chance in several years to spend time together. No, she hadn't fallen apart, but she was in a word peeved.
Before he could come up with the right thing to say, feminine voices were echoing down the hallway. "I am not Jedi!" Complained the one he assumed belonged to the sister working on her mainstream Healer levels.
Noela heaved yet one more sigh and left his side to follow where he heard the voices coming. A loud hiss, "keep your voices down, he can hear you," let him know that Noela had found her siblings.
"Noela, I repeat I am not Jedi!"
"So what's your point?" Came the swift uncharacteristically pointed comment from Noela. Qui-Gon winced, expecting a swift retort, and further bickering, so was amazed that the comment brought a round of giggling from all the sisters. There obviously was a shared family history to the comment that was cause for humor and not anger, and he began to relax, even though he continued to be the subject of the discussion.
"Noela, I know you think I can fix anything, but even when I reach all my levels I won't be in the same league as the Jedi Healers. They do things I can't even begin to imagine, with that Force of theirs. This isn't even a fully stocked MediCenter, and he may need more than just splinting his nose."
"Tani, you will do fine, I know you will. He refuses to go to the Temple tonight, because he is sure that they will lock him up, and he really just wants, we both really just want to have the chance to have time to spend together. It has been six years! Please help us. We are having someone deliver a change of clothes here for him, so he will also need one of your refreshers." Noela obviously had reached a point that begging wasn't beyond her.
Silence filled the next several moments, but finally he heard, "okay, you win. Get him out to the dining area, where I can set up a semi-clean field to look at him. I have to get what equipment I have."
He heard Ciel interrupt, "ah, Noela, have you actually told Tani, more about him than me? You probably ought to warn her..."
Ciels' comment was cut off, "warn her about what? He is pretty much a normal man, he just comes with an interesting vocation."
Qui-Gon was intrigued, wondering what there was to warn about. He had taken care of showering before he left today, and while there was blood all over his clothing, it wouldn't be that hard for a medical professional to handle. He was beginning to feel paranoid about what could be wrong, that someone would need warning about him.
Ciel apparently didn't feel to press the issue, she just said, the shrug she probably gave sounding in her voice, "I am not leaving until I see this."
Noela appeared with her blonde double, and they indicated where Tani had ordered that she wanted to do the check. He was relieved when both sisters didn't treat him as an invalid, Noela resorting to just sitting and holding his hand, and Ciel pouring iced tea for everyone.
A figure appeared from the hallway, and she could only be the other sister Tatiana. If Ciel were an almost exact blond copy of Noela, this one was a copy with almost the same hair color, although it tended to fall in perfect curls around her face. It gave him the eerie feeling he was seeing in some sort of strange triplicate. Tatiana was all business as she strode toward the dining area, although she still hadn't looked up to see her patient.
"Ciel help me spread this field out on the table, and find…" Tani stopped. Tani stared. Tani seemed frozen, transfixed to her spot with her mouth gaping.
Ciel dryly commented, "Yup I tried to tell you: Right on schedule as usual."
Both Qui-Gon and Noela turned for explanation of the phenomenon. Ciel was only too happy to fill them in. "It is the only thing keeping her even anywhere near her year mates in levels, or she would be almost done. A handsome, attractive man shows up for treatment and she freezes. They even have a little assistant assigned just to remind her to keep her mouth closed." Tatiana's mouth closed as if on command.
Ciel continued, "and you my dearest oldest sister have a Jedi boyfriend of the stunning attractiveness of a Corellian Ladies Only Club dancer."
Noela was near her breaking point, "He isn't my boyfriend, it isn't like that, and I don't want you telling me you actually have been to one of those places Ciel! Tani, you are a medical professional, pull yourself together!" Qui-Gon knew it was bad when her natural humor and sweetness disappeared under big sister know-it-all attitude.
Tani shook herself, looking in some terror at the face of her older sister. With shaking hands she continued to put her equipment together. It therefore surprised Qui-Gon at how efficiently she examined him. Ciel still looked on in anticipation of further spectacle and Noela had taken herself to some refresher to pull herself together and look for her sense of humor.
Tatiana finally finished, "Well there is good news and bad news. The good news is that technically you are fine, the bad news is that if you don't go to a MediCenter or the Jedi healers now, your nose will never be the same again. In my opinion you should also cancel any plans and have a quiet evening, since I think you will need pain killers and soon."
It was true that discomfort was beginning to roar at a dull throb, but Tani had settled into the healer she was, and there was no fighting her word. He looked from the expectant Ciel to the determined Tani, and felt rather than saw the distress of his j'm. There was only one thing to do.
At times during his years with Noela, and the complexity of just keeping a friendship going, he had wondered just why it was that men would find a life with a woman rewarding. Despite the pain in his face, he smiled understanding finally the reward and why anyone would do it.
The 23rd hour had happily delivered some its finest offerings, and after a warm shower in a refresher strewn with silk stockings, lacy underwear and makeup, he had enjoyed the company of the sisters now recovering from the shared trauma of the evening.
The more formal dancing planned for the evening was out, but after Ciel coaxed Noela into some of her pajamas, all the sisters had put on some of their more jizzy favorites and surprisingly avoided banging into furniture and door frames, while they danced together. He of course begged out of the activity citing healer's orders, while Tani giggled at the idea that anything she said really carried any authority with him.
After they tired of that activity they pulled out every possible afghan and pillow in the place, and cuddled up together to watch holovids that had to be made with this particular audience in mind. He teased them all about slurpy love scenes, but only Noela had the temerity to cause him more pain by slugging his arm.
Yes, it was a rather rewarding evening, which is why he now found himself in the early hours of the morning, Noela firmly attached to one side by his arm, and Ciel cuddling under the other side, his feet up on the table in front of the couch. Tani had fallen asleep with her head on his knees, and while he found it difficult to sleep with the pain in his face, and the unfamiliar surroundings, he was content.
Noela stirred and looked at him concern showing in her sleep-heavy blue eyes. "You can't sleep? Is your face hurting? Should I get you some more medication?" She shut the holocenter down with the controller that had been under her.
"I am well j'm. It isn't time yet for any other medication, so back to sleep." She settled her head once more back on his shoulder. After a moment, he barely caught her muffled query of, "what were you thinking about?"
She giggled when he answered, "Considering the benefits of Ceils' career choice for me. Do you think I would make it as a Corellian Ladies Only Club dancer?"