A/N: This story actually came to me after I'd started writing what has become the third story in this saga.

Crash Course 2: Perfect

My life is perfect. There really is no other way to phrase it. I know it sounds trite, perhaps even cliche, but that does not make it any less true. After all, cliches become that way when overuse is taken to its extreme. Extreme situations require extreme terms, possibly even extreme cliches. So it is with my life. Besides, understatement only works when someone realizes that you are not pushing things nearly as far as you can, and I've never much cared for it anyway.

My home is supremely beautiful. An entire floor in the Lorrus tower is given over to our quarters. The rooms are spacious, open and airy, looking out over wonderful vistas of the sprawling city. Situated well above the traffic lanes, we are ensured that the rushing streams of vehicles will not mar the scenery or intrude with unwanted noise. Every furnishing has been chosen for aesthetics as well as function, each matched to the others in a common theme of modest conspicuous consumption. After all, what good is money if you don't spend it making life easier or more comfortable for yourself? We have all the best appliances and conveniences, droids and assistants. Luring our cook away from Senator Denali wasn't easy, but was oh so very worth every incentive required to manage that feat.

The entire floor just below our quarters is my garden. A piece of historical and botanical preservation I can't help but be proud of, it is made up entirely of plant species native to Coruscant, some of which have come to the very edge of extinction and are kept from that fate by my garden and others like it. Flagstone paths wind throughout, and enticing conversation niches of small glades carpeted in soft grass open here and there at comfortable intervals. There's been many a lovely dinner party hosted there and I can only praise my landscaper in the most lavish terms.

My responsibilities are light, or at least they have been since... and they prove sufficient to keep me from boredom. Besides keeping the household running smoothly, I usually arrange my husband's social schedule, making sure that he meets with everyone who needs his time and whose time he needs. I'm good at it, which only follows I suppose. After all, I used to be his secretary and a household is so much easier to run than a multibillion credit company.

And finally there's my husband of seven years. Eseladai Tolwyn, president and CEO of Xanthus Corp., is everything I could possibly have wished for and more. At one point eight meters (5'10") he is fit and trim, with not a spare gram of flesh on his body. Lean and handsome, his cheekbones are high and his nose aquiline, aristocratic even. I love running my fingers through the short, tight curls of his hair, as carbon black as my own. He owns my heart, lock, stock, and crate. I have never doubted his devotion to me, his soul-deep love, and I never will.

I know very well that there are people out there who will never experience such good fortune as I have found. I used to be one of them, even joined a swoop gang very briefly, but I fought my way free of the streets, determined to climb as high above them as I could.

Dai has done much the same, though he made it much farther than I before he stopped. He lifted me higher than I could ever have dreamed I would go. For me there are no more worries about enough food at the end of the month, enough credits for rent at the beginning of the month, enough time in the day, enough sleep at night. No, the days of scrabbling for every decicred are over forever, and I only look back long enough to remind myself of how much better my life has become since I met Dai. Instead of an endless progression of drudgery and despair eking out a bleak and bare existence, my days pass in a slow parade of simple pleasures, punctuated with social events, and frosted by the companionship and enduring love of Dai.

So you see, my life is perfect. Perfect house, perfect job, perfect marriage.

And yet...

Sunlight slanted across my face, warming my skin and brightening the place behind my eyelids to a rosy glow. I stretched, the silk sheets slithering across my skin in a hedonistic caress. Smiling, I ran clawed fingers through my hair, scrubbing at my scalp, and luxuriated in the sensations. I drew deep breaths of the fresh air coming through the open balcony door, savoring each wonderful lungful. Glorious, just living and breathing at that moment and taking it all in was glorious. There was something about mornings, whether the sense of newness, or perhaps the feeling that the whole world pauses for just a moment to catch its breath before plunging forward once more. Morning had to be my favorite part of the day.

Turning my face into the sunshine, I reached out with my left hand. The other side of the bed was long empty, the body heat dissipated. My husband was an early riser, gone to work before the sun ever got high enough to shine down on our bed. The Force only knew why I might have expected him to be there, since there had been no sound or motion that might draw my attention.

With a small sigh, I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling. The textured pattern under the paint led my wandering gaze here and there as I thought of nothing much at all. Sunlight glimmered and danced at the corner of my eye, reminding me that the day spun on, whether I got my lazy carcass moving or not. Finally, I pushed myself up and swung my legs off the side of the bed. Twitching the sheets into a more conventional arrangement, I straightened things a little then padded across to the refresher. I paused at the window, pressing one hand against the cool transparisteel. The city was spread out beneath me in a glittering grey and white panorama. Sunlight clung to the eastern faces of buildings, running down and disappearing toward the ground, like a giant bucket of honey splashed across the world. My gaze was caught in the distance by the layered courses of the traffic lanes, the arteries of the vast city, carrying its lifeblood of commerce to every far flung limb. Something about the moving vehicles riveted my attention and made me uneasy. I stared hard at them, trying to find the source of my anxiety, but I could detect nothing amiss.

Pulling away from the view, I continued on, dragging my sleepshirt off over my head and dismissing the strange feeling as nothing more than the remnants of an already forgotten dream. As I stepped into the refresher, I dropped the shirt in a corner for the droid to collect for cleaning. The slightly cool spray of the shower helped me wash away the last lingering bits of sleep.

Wrapped in a warm robe, my hair bound up in a gleaming white towel, I went back into the room and crossed to the vanity. PC-46 was already waiting for me with my breakfast. The droid whisked the damp towel away from my hair even as I seated myself, and proceeded to comb and dry the thick, black mass.

"What's my schedule today, Foursix?" I asked before selecting a thin wedge of toasted black bread spread with pale green shi'rz preserves.

"Master Malos has asked to review the plans for the dinner party with you over lunch so that he can arrange proper security and get the menu sent to the caterers, mistress Tolwyn," the droid responded instantly in a soft alto voice.

"No, no, no." I sighed, dabbing away crumbs from my lips with a snowy napkin. "He knows very well I have luncheon with Vrenna Rhysode today. I won't have him interrupting and I certainly won't have him looming. He's been with us a long time, and I know he worries about me, but having him solicitously by my side the entire meal will make me look scared, weak, or in need of looking after, and that's not the impression I want to give that gossip monger. He can talk to me before, or after, but not during lunch. Besides, that party's not for another three days and Dai hasn't even finished the guest list yet." I chewed my lip for a moment as I thought. "Tell Thackary not to worry about the caterers, that's my job and I certainly don't need his help at this late date. I'll com Dai and see if I can't nail down some sort of tentative list so he can at least begin planning the security end of things though."

"Yes, mistress Tolwyn."

"Did Dai mention when he expected to be home tonight?"

"Master Tolwyn said he had a board meeting immediately after lunch, but that he did not expect it to last long. He said he would probably be home early today."

"Excellent." With a contented sigh, I leaned back into my chair and relaxed while the droid finished its work.

Hair primped and curled, nails lacquered, make-up applied with the deft touch that only a superbly programmed droid could achieve, and dressed in a light pants suit of cream colored silk and a linen blouse of light grey-green, I moved into my husband's home office. Foursix had gone off to relay my messages to our head of security, so I needed to go about my end of the deal. My spike heels sank a full centimeter into the plush grey carpeting as I crossed to the old-fashioned real wood desk. Pulling the chair away from the computer terminal, I sat at the corner in front of the communit and dialed up my husband's work number.

"Xanthus, Mr. Tolwyn's office."

"Jonica, is Dai busy?"

"No, Mrs. Tolwyn. I'll put you right through." The grey-skinned near-human disappeared from the screen almost as fast as she had appeared and my husband's lean, handsome visage replaced hers.

"Darling." Those deep blue eyes scanned my face quickly, worry tightening his features. "Are you feeling all right? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, nothing at all. As the doctors and I have been telling you all along, I'll be fine."

Lips set in a rueful twist, he sighed. "As long as you are okay, I can handle anything else. What can I do for you?"

"The dinner party, Dai. Thackary needs that guest list. You know how he gets if he can't sort out every last detail at least a day in advance."

"He bothering you again?" I nodded and blue eyes sparkled at me as Dai grinned, a wonderful sight that blunted the sometimes harsh lines of his face. "Yes, I know exactly how he gets. Tell you what, I promise I'll write up a list and send it over by eleven. You can look it over and see if I've missed anyone. Does that work for you?"

"Perfectly. Thank you, love."

"I'll see you when I get home."

I blew him a kiss and cut the connection. Standing, I put the chair back in front of the computer and then I stood there, staring at the machine a moment. I've never gotten along well with computers, just well enough to get my work done and no more, and yet they held a strange fascination for me. I often itched to play around, to see if I could learn a little more, but I was also terribly afraid of making some horrible mistake and ruining something important of Dai's. That fear had always overwhelmed any exploratory longings, and no doubt always would. Giving the computer a last confused frown, I left the office and moved on with my day.

"He leaned over the table to kiss me and managed to smear the gravy from his steak all down his front," I told Vrenna, pushing the remains of a light salad around my plate with a fork, eyes on the past. "A bright blue stain from here to here. I couldn't help it. I burst right out laughing. The man had just proposed to me and I laughed in his face. He sat down so fast that the edge of the plate caught under a button and tipped the rest of it smack into his lap. I rushed over to help him clean it up, as did the two nearest waiter droids, and he started laughing too. So, when I finally said yes and accepted the ring, it was me on my knees next to him, instead of the other way around."

My face warmed, my whole being lighting up with the memory, as Vrenna chirped out a pinched excuse for a laugh. She had demolished two full plates of salad and was working on her third glass of Clerif White, while what was left of my first glass slowly warmed in the simulated sun between polite sips.

"My dear, that is a wonderful story. My own acceptance to matrimony was nowhere near as entertaining. My poor husband made it sound more like a business merger than romance. I fear the man has no imagination in his soul."

I nodded, a polite, if strained smile pasted on my lips. The luncheon was going into its second hour, the headache pressing at my temples throbbed slowly, threatening serious escalation, and Mrs. Rhysode showed not the least inclination to leave. The conversation lapsed, and I sat back as Foursix moved in on my covert gesture under the table and began to clear away the dishes. I glanced away from my guest to the moon lilies that graced the nearest decorative pond and poured soft perfume into the air. I closed my eyes briefly, listening to the gentle sounds around me. There were no birds in my garden, no small living things to add vital sound, but that did not bother me. I found the near absolute silence soothing. Only the rustling leaves and the domestic sounds of Foursix disturbed the peace.

Oh, and my lunch companion.

Vrenna Rhysode was anything but soothing or peaceful. Her prying curiosity grated, and then there was the way she leaned forward to search my words for any scrap or tidbit of information that could be used for her or against us. She disgusted me and I wished this whole thing over and done with, but it had been my idea. Dai argued that I wasn't strong enough yet, but I knew I was. This was the best way to prove it and with the dinner party in just three more days, this was the closest to a trial run as I was going to get.

"Well, I must say that you and Eseladai seem to be doing well."

"We're doing quite well, as a matter of fact. Xanthus is turning better profits than expected for the sixth quarter in a row. Dai is a shrewd business man."

"Never in doubt, my dear. Never in doubt." Her blue lacquered nails rattled against the glass tabletop and her black eyes scanned my face yet again. I didn't like those eyes. They glinted, but flatly, like a Rancor's, and felt just as hungry. "Actually, your husband wasn't ever really the issue. It was you we were intrigued by."

"Dai is a very private person, Mrs. Rhysode. We were married in a family-only ceremony on Lyra, his home planet, and I stayed there. He would come back and visit me whenever business allowed, but he didn't really want me coming back to Coruscant and being subjected, to put it bluntly, to the very scrutiny I've been under since I arrived a month ago."

Not the information she was digging for, but I'd have chewed my own tongue before I gave her the satisfaction of sating her curiosity. I was well, the doctors all said it was over, so there was no point in dragging the morbid details out for everyone to sift through at their leisure. I'd either picked the exactly the right, or exactly the wrong person for this first 'public' appearance. She'd spread the word that all was right in the Tolwyn household to the length and breadth of Coruscant before nightfall if I didn't have her killed the second she crossed the threshold on her way out.

"Yes, dear, but-"

Coming to a snap decision, I cut her off, glancing sharply at my chrono. "Oh dear. I'm truly sorry, Vrenna, but I have a busy schedule. I'm already running quite late. If you'll excuse me, Foursix will show you out when you're ready."

I pushed away from the table and walked across the grass, the green stems with their delicate looking purple veins hissing softly under my feet. Vrenna Rhysode disappeared from view gratifyingly quickly and Thackary intercepted me well short of the turbolift.

"She'll be out before you reach the office."

"No, Thackary, don't be rude. Just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't badger poor Foursix into letting her stay any longer." The turbolift doors closed over us, shutting out the garden and the horrible woman who occupied it, and I took the opportunity to rub at my temples.

"Mrs. Tolwyn-"

"No, I'm all right." I waved him away and straightened my posture. "That woman would try the patience of a Jedi Knight."

"Never in doubt, Mrs. Tolwyn. Never in doubt."

I rewarded him with a small laugh and a wry smile for his cleverness at mimicking her fawning tone so closely.

"Thank you, Thackary, I needed that."

His own grin faded and he glanced me over from head to toe. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Perfectly fine. In fact, I'm going to call the caterers just so that I'm not a complete liar."

"Yes, ma'am."

I stepped out of the turbolift and strode toward the office, leaving Thackary behind me to return to his unobtrusive men in the garden below. First that call, and then perhaps a small nap. Lunch, and Vrenna, had managed to leech away all the wonderful energy I'd started the morning with.

Strange voices, muffled and distorted, though by what I couldn't tell. Fear prickled my skin and made my heart race. I knew I was in danger, but the source was elusive, slipping out of my mental grasp before I could pin it down. Why wouldn't my arms move? Was I restrained? Some small and indistinct message from my inner ear whispered that I was reclining, perhaps even laying flat on my back. What was going on? Two voices, one firm and concerned, almost passionate, and the other clinical, neutral, spoke in a conversation all out of context.

"She won't remember?"

"A little disorientation is normal, perhaps vague nightmares once in a while, but with this sort of treatment ... no, she shouldn't remember a thing."

"But she'll be healthy, and her mind will function properly?"

"Oh yes, her mind will function perfectly. As indicated, it is only the more recent memories that might cause problems."

"Then do what you are being paid for, doctor."

My own moan of fear startled me awake, and I thrashed upright, fighting my way free of the entangling sheets. I stared around me and, for a moment, the walls were stark grey industrial permacrete instead of the cool beige they should have been. I was certain that if I swung my feet to the grey carpeting I would find it hard and cold. A strange hollow echoing bounced around me, rocking me back against the headboard, and then the door slammed aside at emergency override speed, and Thackary rushed in, blaster half drawn. The spell, whatever it had been, was broken and my bedroom returned to normal.

"Mrs. Tolwyn, are you okay?" His eyes were less on me and more on the rest of the room, gaze darting here and there, searching for unseen enemies.

Still clutching the sheets up around my throat, I twitched out an affirmative nod. "Yes, it was just a dream. I will be fine in a moment."

His stormy blue-steel eyes peered hard at me, testing for veracity, and I assumed finding it. He reholstered the weapon beneath his dark tunic jacket, and raked a searching glance around the bedroom once more.

"I'll call Mr. Tolwyn then."

"Oh no, please don't, Thackary. It was just a dream." Reaching out with one hand as if to restrain him, I clutched the silk of the sheets closer still. "I can barely remember a thing about it already. There's no need to disturb him, especially not if he's in a board meeting."

"I have my orders, ma'am."

"Please, Thackary. I've worked so hard to come back. Please don't take it away from me now. Dai will overreact and hustle me off to a clinic for my own sake, without thinking about whether or not that's the best thing for me. Please don't call him."

He hesitated still staring hard at me and I knew that I had won my case. Finally he tipped his head in acquiescence. "I won't comm him if you promise to tell him when he gets home."

"I will, I promise."

Lips set in a thin, grim line, my security chief bowed himself out of the room. Before the door had completely closed, I called after him softly.

"Thackary."

"Ma'am?"

"Thank you."

"Yes, ma'am."

When Dai finally came home I was propped up in our bed, reading, or at least pretending to read. More accurately, I was thinking of the best way to keep my promise to Thackary without alarming my husband. The door opened, much more sedately than the last time, and I set the datapad aside.

"I'm sorry I'm late, darling. There was the most horrendous snarl in traffic and I ran right into the back up. I don't understand how these things happen. I was in sight of the building, but just couldn't get here."

He walked to the closet and carefully hung up his tunic. Coming back, he perched on the bed next to me and loosened the collar of his shirt before leaning over to kiss me. I leaned into his touch, more grateful for the physical comfort it imparted than I could express with words, all thoughts of traffic patterns and poorly routed commercial vehicles evaporating from my mind.

"Mmmm," I hummed approvingly when he at last pulled away.

"And how was lunch today?"

Flouncing back into my pillows as best I could, I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted for all I was worth. "The woman is, is..." I waved my clawed hands in squashing motions towards each other. "She is a complete and utter..."

"Cretin," Dai supplied, a smile lurking far too near the surface to hide properly. "A prying, vicious, self-important busybody."

I thanked him with another kiss, though this one didn't last as long, to my dismay. "Not the exact words I was looking for, but they get the concept across well enough."

His hand trailed down the side of my face, over my shoulder, and down the length of my arm. Giving my hand a gentle squeeze, he shook his head at me. "Darling, I hate to say it, but-"

"Yes, you told me so. I know. But it really was good practice for our dinner party." His eyes scanned me restlessly, as they had since he'd walked through the door. I knew he wanted to protect me, to shelter me, but that was no way to live. I couldn't hide in these rooms, lovely though they were, for the rest of my life. "It will all be perfect. You'll see."

Those deep blue eyes flickered over my face once more. "Very well. You're in bed already, a bit tired?"

"A little. I took a small nap after lunch. I think I scared poor Thackary, though."

Dai had moved back to the closet. Bent over to unfasten a shoe, he watched me out of the corner of his eye. "Oh?"

"Yes, I had a bit of a nightmare and he burst into the room like a Republic Security commando unit. He scared me more than the silly dream did." I waved it away with airy motions, but Dai's gaze narrowed.

"What kind of dream?"

"Just flashbacks from the treatment, love. Nothing to worry about. It was most likely caused by the ever so curious Vrenna Rhysode."

Dai nodded solemnly and finished his task. He stripped out of his shirt, and clad only in his suit pants, he returned to me, taking up both my hands in his. His face was a study in concern, his brows drawn together, his lips slightly compressed.

"Darling, you will tell me if you start feeling ... unlike yourself, won't you? I don't want you to relapse, if that's possible. You are the center of my life, I couldn't handle anything happening to you now, not after all we've gone through just to get this far. Promise me you won't push yourself too hard. Promise me you'll let me help you, take care of you. You've always been there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for you."

His right hand lifted to my cheek, his thumb lightly stroking my lower lip. I couldn't break away from his eyes, so full of emotion. Drowning in those eyes, I brought my hand up to cover his and nodded. "I promise. I love you, Dai."

"And I love you with all my heart, Chenowyth."