Title: The Jedi and the Ambassador
Author(s): jadesabre75
Timeframe: post LOTF/EU/OC
Characters: Kyp, Jaina, Jag, Iella, Wedge, other canon characters and OC's
Genre: romance, humor, angst
Keywords:
Summary: This takes place about five years after the defeat of Jacen. Kyp gets assigned to protect an ambassador and much hilarity and drama ensues. Oh yeah, there's some J/J mush too….maybe.


Notes: Comments are always welcome! Even if you just say "I like it!". I'm not picky.

I want to say a huge thank you to The Pied Piper and Jade Eyes! Piper for appreciating my craziness and pointing me in Jade Eyes direction and JE for being my beta. Hopefully she won't regret that. LOL

And now…on to the show.

/____________________________________\

Chapter 1

The cloaked man threaded his way through the dingy warehouse, appearing to casually inspect the merchandise that had been displayed for him. To most people he would look like he was taking a leisurely stroll through an antique shop, but Shaw knew that he was looking for something specific. He always did. The more exotic the better, because that's what sold.

His "friend" always took his time to make his purchases, but he was one of Shaw's biggest customers so he didn't complain. The merchandise wasn't for him -- he had clients that he took care of. And he took very good care of them. For the money he was getting he had to. Plus the fact that what he was doing was illegal, at least in most of the galaxy.

Shaw smiled as he saw him make a circle back towards one piece of merchandise in particular. He had a feeling that one would catch the trader's eye. He had made sure to keep that particular piece as unblemished as possible, knowing that he would probably take a particular interest in it. The man stopped and slowly walked around the item. A smile crept onto the younger man's face and Shaw saw credits popping into his account.

Walking over towards the trader he skimmed his fingertips over any merchandise he passed. It was always a good day when he showed up. Though it hadn't always been like that, especially in the beginning. He had been a reluctant trader. He had been pulled into the seedy underbelly of the universe by accident, but had hardly kicked and screamed to be let go. Once he had gotten a taste of what he could have, he had been hooked and had become one of the best dealers that Shaw had ever seen.

He stopped in front of the man and smiled. "I take it you found something you liked."

He could just make out the lower portion of the other's face under the hood of his cloak as he looked up and nodded. "It's perfect." He said as he looked back at the item. "They will love it."

/____________________________________\

No words were exchange as the two friends completed their morning ritual. Kyp had started joining Jag on his morning run after the younger man had given him grief about getting old. That had been three years ago. Now, every morning at 0400 they set out from the Jedi Temple and wound their way around the half-deserted streets near the temple.

They had started at a ½ mile and now were up to five miles a day. Kyp was in the best shape he had ever been in and had never felt better.

Rounding the corner that led them back to the temple they stopped at the bottom of the steps and started to cool down. Jag had opted to stay after the war and help out at the temple. Luke had more than welcomed the help and had asked him to help train the students in hand to hand combat. The only drawback, was the he saw Jaina a little more than he wanted to. Not that he would ever say anything.

Kyp still couldn't understand why the two of them hadn't mended their relationship. They rarely talked beyond niceties and they were always awkward around each other. Which didn't work well with Kyp since he and Jag shared an apartment at the temple. Jaina divided her time between the temple and the military and seemed to be happy. Kyp knew that neither of them were, though.

"What have you got planned today?" Jag asked the master as they walked up the steps and headed towards their room. Luke had given them one of the bigger rooms that was normally reserved for a master and his apprentice. It had one large shared area and a kitchen. There were two bedrooms, the master, which had it's own bath and the smaller one without a bath. A coin toss had determined who would get the bigger room. Kyp had won.

"Let's see. A big, fat nothing, followed by an afternoon of nothing. And rounding out the evening is a glorious helping of nothing."

Jag laughed and shook his head. "Sounds intriguing."

Kyp snorted. "Something like that." He said as he palmed the door and followed Jag into the living room. "Luke did ask if I would sit in on the Wampas class and observe."

Jag raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sure Zekk will love that."

"I will, even if he doesn't." He said with a grin. He clapped the younger man on the shoulder and left to go and jump in the shower.

Kyp had changed since the end of the Galactic war. He had definitely done a lot of maturing before that, but something had clicked in him after Jacen had been defeated and they had fought to bring a sense of normalcy back to life. He was still impatient, he didn't think that would ever go away, but he now knew when to bide his time and wait. Six, seven years ago he would have gone crazy at having nothing to do and no one to argue with. He had woken up one day and realized how much time had been wasted in wallowing in his mistakes and how much he had missed. Kyp had learned to let go of things that he couldn't control and focus on the things that he could. If he made a mistake, he admitted it and moved on. Didn't dwell on what ifs or maybes. Han told him it was because he was getting old.

Officially, he and Corran were in charge of the temple on Coruscant and Luke stayed on Ossus for most of his time. Luke had given him the odd assignment here and there in the last five years, but things were relatively quiet now days and there really wasn't much for the Jedi to do. He'd been sent to help with a few planetary disputes but nothing major. Nothing that required negotiations with a light saber at least. Not that he was complaining. It was kind of nice to not have a war going on for once. Skywalker had also offered him a class and an apprentice, but he had turned them down. Unless he was absolutely needed, he wasn't ready to train anyone for a while.

He took his time in the shower for two reasons. One, because the water felt good on his tired muscles. Even though he and Jag ran every day, he still had aches and pains. Two, because he felt the need to use all the hot water before Jag got to take a shower. As the water started cooling off, he got out and got dressed. He was supposed to meet Han in an hour to help him with the Falcon and he didn't think smelling like a Bantha when he showed up would be appreciated.

Jag was in the kitchen getting a drink of water when the door sounded. Wondering who it would be this early in the morning, he opened the door and smiled at the visitor.

"Jag."

"Jaina." He replied as he turned around to walk back into the living room. Jaina followed and tried to keep her eyes off his half-dressed form. He and Kyp had obviously just gotten back from their run. The former Chiss commander was clad only in his jogging pants with a towel draped over his shoulder. In the last year or so he had let his hair grow a little longer than he normally wore it, the shock of white hair hung down over his forehead, just brushing his eyebrow. She surpressed a shiver as she watched him walk back to the kitchen. Jag had always been in good shape, but the daily run he and Kyp shared had only hardened his muscles even more. The view was definitely still good enough to get a reaction out of her. Thankfully he couldn't tell.

"Durron's in the shower. He should be done soon." He called back to her. She nodded, even though he couldn't see her and sat down on one of the couches.

Not for the first time, Jaina wished things weren't so strained between her and Jag. She hated sitting here and feeling uncomfortable in his presence. Her visits had slackened off and now she only came over to pick the master up for something, never staying more than a few minutes. Kyp had told her, in his own subtle way that they were both morons for not making up. She wasn't sure what was stopping her, but right now she was so busy she didn't really have time to think about it. At least that's what she told herself.

"Hey Jay." She looked up to see Kyp walking into the room, towel over one shoulder and tying his hair back with a leather thong. "You're here awful early." Jag came into the living room and threw Kyp a water bottle. It still amazed him how they seemed to communicate without the force between them.

"I just thought you might want to grab some breakfast before my meeting." She returned, still trying to keep her eyes off of Jag who had sat down next to Kyp.

Problem Goddess? Kyp sent her through their bond.

Bite me Durron. She snapped

"Sure." He said as he stood up and tossed the towel at Jag. "Don't forget I'm not home tonight Jag."

"Make sure you don't stay out late dear." Jag lobbed back at him as he stood up and walked to the bathroom.

"I won't honey. Don't wait up for me."

"You two scare me." Jaina said as she shook her head and followed Kyp out the door.

/____________________________________\

Ambassador Jade Storm smiled as Iella made her way to the table. The two women tried to see each other as much as possible, but it was hard between their schedules. It seemed that lately their events just hadn't coincided, so when Iella had comm'd her and asked if she was free for breakfast she'd been pleasantly surprised.

They greeted one another with a hug then sat down and ordered their food.

"So, how have you been?" Jade asked. "I saw that you finally broke that big case you were working on." She said as she took a drink of her caf.

Iella laughed. "And it was about time. I was starting to think we never would." They drifted into comfortable conversation, talking about their families and work. Anything they had missed out on in the last two months.

Jade had become ambassador for Nyreen four years ago and had lived on Coruscant for about 10. She hadn't known a soul, except her older brother, Jake, who had joined the academy about five years before her arrival. Now, Jake was second in command of Rogue Squadron and Jade had been married to Senator Bela Mnaa from Aargau for the last six years. Her parents still resided on Nyreen, where her father was governor of the capital city, but they visited every chance they got.

It had been an accident when they had met. The younger woman had literally ran into her as she had come from having lunch with her brother at the barracks. Jake had been recruited to the Rogues almost as soon as he had stepped foot on the planet and he made it a point to have lunch with Jade whenever he was in town. Even if it was only for a few hours.

"The girls are going to be in town in a week. You need to come by for dinner." Iella told her friend as the waiter dropped their food off at the table.

"Should I bring Jake?" She asked mischievously as Iella just laughed. Over the last couple of years they had noticed Jake and Myri had started arguing more and more every time they got together. At first, they just chalked it up to "sibling" rivalry and hadn't thought anything of it. But then Jake started talking about Myri more and more and Jade finally realized he liked her but didn't know what to do about it. Iella had realized the same about Myri. It became a running joke between them and they were forever trying to find ways to get the two together. The couple wasn't cooperating though.

"I think that is an excellent idea." Iella responded. A movement behind Jade grabbed her attention and she smiled and waved. The ambassador turned in her seat and instantly recognized whom Iella had acknowledged. Of course, you'd have to have been frozen in carbonite for the last 15 years to not know Jaina Solo and Kyp Durron.

/____________________________________\

Jaina had kept up an endless stream of chatter the entire way to the restaurant. Kyp had tuned her out before they had even left the temple. She was nervous about something and he was racking his brain trying to figure it out. The only thing he could come up with was his roommate.

They sat down and Jaina was quiet as she looked over the menu. He stole a glance at her and smiled.

"What meeting do you have today?" He asked her casually. Kyp knew damn well what meeting it was, but he wanted to direct the conversation for the moment. Direct it to her favorite subject at least.

"Pash asked me to come by and finalize the rosters with him this morning. I start a new class next week." She told him without looking up. There was total chaos coming from her, and that worried him a little.

"Jaina."

"Yeah?" She asked, still not looking up at him. When he didn't answer she finally looked up.

"What's wrong?" He prodded.

Her eyes went back to her menu. "Nothing."

"Try again Goddess."

"I said nothing was wrong Durron." She growled back at him.

"I know that's what you said, but I also know you're lying. So how about we cut the chase and you fess up." He told her as he folded his menu on the table in front of him and crossed his arms. Jaina was silent for a minute before she huffed and put her menu down.

"I don't know what's wrong. Ok." She rolled her eyes as he gave her a dubious look. Slouching back in her chair she closed her eyes and was about to say something when the waiter walked up.

The look Kyp threw her said: "This isn't done, not by half." But she sighed in relief anyway.

/____________________________________\

Jag palmed the door to his classroom, still lost in thought and walked over to his office. Luke had gifted him with one of the bigger classrooms that thankfully had a small room attached. Sitting at his desk, he fired up his computer and noticed he had a message. It was from his sister, Wyn. Smiling he opened it up and felt a little twinge of homesickness. It had gotten better over the years, but it still bothered him sometimes. He was extremely thankful for Kyp, who had become like another brother to him, but he hadn't really let himself get close to anyone else. Especially Jaina. She flitted in and out of his radar and he still, after five years, had not gotten her out of his system. He was starting to think he never would.

After Jacen had been defeated, his family had moved back to Corellia. His father had been disgusted with the Chiss ascendary after Jag's brief "vacation" on Tenupe and had decided to take his family back to known space. Naturally, they had ended back up on Corellia. His mother had been overjoyed. Now she wouldn't be so far away from her oldest son and her brother's family. Soontir hadn't really expressed any emotions, but Jag knew he was secretly glad to be back in the core. Wyn and Cem really hadn't changed any. They were both still flying and still goofy. He smiled as he thought of them and knew he would have to make an appearance at home soon. It had been six months since his last visit, and his mother always reminded him when he talked to her. Maybe after his next group of classes ended he would talk to Luke.

Until then he had class schedules to put together and a certain Jedi to not think about. As always, he would be successful in only one of those ventures.