Like an everlasting romantic melody, tiny drops of rain touched down onto green grass and oddly shaped rocks that surrounded the small area the Healers used as their infirmary. There was enough room to accommodate several dozen patients; more space had so far never been needed since the Jedi were mostly off world for missions and if someone did fall ill, it was usually because of an average flu, a broken bone or just really nasty bruises.
But sometimes there was an exception in the normal routine of a Healers' life and this exception now stared into nothingness with big brown eyes. The human woman sat on the exam table and dangled her legs back and forth while her hands lay folded in her lap. She was a small human female with lovely chocolate brown hair and soft, fair skin but it was the strength of her aura that made her quite interesting to the Healer standing just a step away.
"Are you well?" Jedi Healer Jannis Linn asked softly, while debating whether to hold the woman's hand or not. She'd seen it done plenty of times before and supposedly it was meant to be a reassuring gesture.
The woman forced a small smile and slowly turned her head towards the Healer. "I'm alright."
"You seem distraught." Jannis said.
She shook her head, dark brown curls bouncing around her slender shoulders. "I'm not. I'm just thinking."
"If this news has unsettled you in any way than I am sorry to have been the messenger."
Her laugh was light and sweet. "You don't need to be sorry. I knew before I came here."
Jannis Linn frowned and folded her hands in front of her. "If you knew than why come here in the first place?"
It took a long while for the human woman to answer. For a moment, the Healer thought she wouldn't answer at all. But she took a deep breath and her dark eyes focused on the Healer – the raw emotions playing behind those eyes were astonishing. "I came here to be sure. I needed someone else to say it out loud."
"I don't understand."
She jumped from the exam table and waved the remark away. "It's a human thing, I guess." Slowly, as if it were the most difficult thing to do, the human began to dress. Once she had slipped into her flight jacket, she extended a hand towards Jannis Linn. "Thank you."
"You needn't thank me. It is my duty."
She laughed again and the sound was warming to the Healers' heart. "Thank you anyway." She dropped her hand to the side, hesitated for just a moment before saying, "May the Force be with you." Then she turned on her heal and left the infirmary, leaving behind a very confused Jannis Linn.
The flight back home gave her time enough to think. Alone in the cockpit of her X-Wing, Jaina Solo closed her eyes as her little ship broke into hyperspace. The blue and white colors of the hyperspace corridor played across her tired features – at one point in time she had loved to stare out the viewport because of the fascinating display of colors but along the way, she had lost interest. She had lost interest in all trivial yet wonderful things, deeming them unnecessary.
Jaina sat back and wondered if that was the first mistake right there. It was the little things in life that made living worthwhile, right? At least that was something she had heard time and time again, though she'd never given it a second thought. But now…now she wondered how many little things she had missed in her life, how many little things might have brought a smile to her face.
Tears pricked at her eyes while she let her mind wander. She had known, even before setting foot in the Healers' ward, what the Jedi would tell her. She'd known for weeks already that something was different and now that she had certainty, it was extraordinarily difficult to deal with it. Especially on her own but she had no one to go to.
She could have tried reaching her mother but who knew where Leia was nowadays and discussing something this private, this life altering over an insecure comlink wasn't something Jaina really wanted to do. If someone caught wind of what was going on… she didn't even want to think about it.
The press would have a field day and Jag… Force, what would Jag say?
A cold, heart wrenching fear suddenly grabbed hold of her and she couldn't help the silent sob that escaped her throat. This wasn't how she had expected her life to unwind. She had so much still planned, so much she needed to do and so many people were counting on her…
Gods, it would all change now, wouldn't it? Nothing, absolutely nothing, would ever be the same again.
Even though her thoughts were all over the place, Jaina managed to delve into the welcoming warmth of the Force and calm herself. She fell into a much needed relaxation trance and was surprised to note she was at her destination when she heard the beeping sound of the alarm – she was about to exit hyperspace.
The blue and white lines around her suddenly merged and completely stopped, as if time itself didn't exist. But then there were the stars, thousands, millions of them all around her and in front of her was her home – Coruscant.
So beautiful from above, like a jewel, a colorful orb she could pluck from the black carpet of space.
Taking a deep breath, she headed down the surface after clearing her vector with flight control. It took only a few minutes to reach the hangarbay of the former Imperial Palace and while she flew above the city, she wondered about all the individuals living on the planet. Each and every one of them had their own lives and problems to deal with – how many thought their lives would change forever with a single decision they had to make?
With her hands shaking, Jaina set her X-wing down in the hangarbay. She sat still for a very long time, not even moving to take off her helmet. It seemed like an eternity before she decided that now was the best time to spread the news. And Jag would be the first to find out. She owed him that much.
Jagged Fel rubbed his eyes as he sat back behind his desk. He hated this God awful desk job and again he wondered why in the Nine Corellian Hells he'd even agreed to do this. Imperial Head of State – sure, it sounded great but hardly anyone really knew the work behind the title.
With a grunt, he pushed away from the desk and stretched tired muscles. Ignoring the soft pops along his spine and shoulders was getting more difficult by the day and he refused to see this as a sign of getting older. He was still in his prime, he told himself with a little smile – it was the damned desk job that was getting to him.
He yearned to be back out there, fighting alongside his squadmates and friends. He wasn't keen on having another war, of course not, but life had started to get tiresome once things had settled down. He'd been fighting for most of his life and now finally knowing peace…he had to get used to it, it was just that simple.
A monotonous beeping sound from the intercom made him turn back to the wretched desk. He stabbed at the single button with a finger, "Yes, Idri?" He said in a low and hopefully casual sounding voice, knowing that the young lady at the front desk could get a bit jumpy at times.
"Sorry to disturb you Sir, but there's someone here to see you."
Jag sighed. "Does this someone have a name?"
"Jaina Solo, Sir."
Time seemed to stop altogether at that moment. The outside world ceased to exist the moment Jag heard the name Jaina Solo.
"Send her in." He said slowly, green eyes darting towards the entrance to his office. The few seconds it took for her to enter seemed like an eternity. She stood wearing a dark grey overall with her helmet pinned underneath her arm. Her dark hair was an insane mess around her head but no matter – to him, she was the most beautiful woman to walk the planet.
As she stepped closer, Jag breathed in her sweet scent that always reminded him of a wonderful summer's day. And each time he was near her, Jag knew that without Jaina he would only be half the man he was. There were no words to describe how Jaina completed him on so many different levels.
"Jaina." He said softly.
She placed her helmet on a small table near the sitting area and nearly knocked Jag off his feet when she grabbed him into a fierce hug. He knew in an instant that something was wrong.
Holding her at arms' length, she avoided his gaze and when he noticed that she had been crying, all sorts of alarm bells went off. Jaina Solo hardly ever cried and especially not in public.
"What's wrong?"
Jaina didn't answer. She looked away and grabbed at his uniform as if holding on to dear life. Jag took her hands into his and gently ran his thumbs over her knuckles. "Tell me what's happened, Jaina." He prompted and smiled ever so slightly. Whatever had Jaina so distraught had to be something big, he thought to himself. He'd only once seen her like this before…
"Talk to me."
She sniffed when she took a step back and wiped tears from her red cheeks. She used a moment to collect herself, turning away from Jag and stepping towards the window. They were so small, so insignificantly tiny in the grand scheme of things, weren't they? One little decision, one small action and all of it changed so drastically, so dramatically…
"I went to see a Healer." She began with a shaky voice, glancing over her shoulder.
In the way Jag's shoulders' stiffened, she knew he was worried about her. Did he have a reason to worry? She wasn't quite sure yet.
"Are you ill?" He asked with a frown marring his forehead.
Jaina shook her head. "I've been feeling sick for a little while now. I put it off, thinking it would go away on its own but it didn't. And I don't trust the medics here so I went to see a Healer."
"And?" Even in this tiny words Jaina could hear the feint shake in Jag's voice.
"I don't know what to do, Jag." She shrugged and crossed her arms in front of her chest and with this slight movement she seemed so young, so fragile.
Two long strides and he was by her side, his arms wrapped around her slender frame. "What did the Healer say, Jaina?"
A part of him really didn't want to know. If Jaina was this shook up it had to be something devastating, right? How would he react if Jaina told him she was sick? Gravely ill with no hope whatsoever? He hated worst-case-scenarios but he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on was something extraordinarily big.
But maybe – just maybe – Jaina was making a big thing out of nothing.
Even though a small voice in his head said that Jaina wasn't the sort of person to be overly dramatic, he held on to that thought because it would simply make things easier.
Jaina looked up and he saw all sorts of emotions swirling behind those beautiful brown eyes of hers. She was afraid and confused yet she hoped – he knew that by the way she gripped his hands.
"Tell me, Jaina." He prodded again.
She took a deep breath and with her next words, she made his entire world spin on its axis. It was like the floor had been pulled from underneath his feet and a big, black hole had swallowed him up. But he regained his composure only a second later because that's what Jag always did – he kept calm.
He was trained to keep calm. Although now it was decidedly difficult.
"Are you sure?" He whispered, reaching up to tuck strands of dark hair behind her ear.
Jaina nodded. "Yes."
Long seconds stretched into minutes as they said nothing at all. They stared at each other, each busy with their own thoughts but Jag was the one who broke the silence.
And he broke it with a smile.
"You're really, really sure?"
Jaina nodded. "Yes." She wiped at her eyes. "What are we going to do?"
Jag laughed and hugged her close and he swore to himself that he would never, ever let her go. "We won't do anything at all. This is a happy moment, Jaina."
"I am happy, Jag but…" She shrugged. "How can we even think about raising a child? Normal people have kids, Jag. Average people. We're not normal or average."
Jag laughed louder this time and cupped her face in both her hands. "We are normal, Jaina. We might not have average lives but in the end we're just like everyone else. There's nothing you should worry about. Not now." He kissed her, a soft nip at her lips. "We're in this together. And I, for one, couldn't be any happier."
For the first time that day, Jaina found herself smiling warmly. "We can do this, right?"
"Of course."
"I can do this, right?"
Jag gently brushed his thumb along the line of her jaw. "You can do anything, Jaina."
She took a deep breath and nodded once, as if to prove to herself that Jag's words were the truth. Their eyes met and this time Jaina smiled brightly. "We're having a baby, Jag."
They hugged each other and in this little break they had from the world, they were the happiest couple in the galaxy.