Hello everyone!
This is my first fanfic for star wars. For those of you who are used to reading my Harry Potter stuff, I hope I haven't disappointed you. This is mostly just me cheering myself up, because I was very annoyed that Jaina broke off the engagement with Jag. I haven't read all of the Fate of the Jedi books that are out, but this is meant to be a scene that happens afterward, when they have everything settled for a brief moment in time. If inspiration strikes again, I might extend it into an actual story.
Setting: after the conclusion of Fate of the Jedi series
Characters: Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. Duh.
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Duracrete infrastructure was covered with the more earthly aura of gray slabs of stone, and transparisteel viewports allowed a rather generous amount of sunlight to pour inside.
It was just one fine example of the flawless repairs to the Jedi Temple since Daala had been removed from power.
Jaina looked about the grand hall, taking in the familiar shape and unfamiliar decorations. Gold and silver shimmersilk hung from the walls, draping in luxurious folds to the stone floor. A large, intricate banner depicting and proclaiming the Jedi ideals hung at the front of the grand hall. Even the Masters were dressed in their finest robes, intricately embroidered folds of fabric that seemed to float from their bodies with a regal air. Jaina thought it was all rather lavish. Too lavish, truth be told, for a Jedi ceremony.
And it was rather silly, when she considered that this cavernous room normally served as the mess hall.
But she had always known this day would come, she supposed. At least, she thought it would come if she lived long enough to reach it, which she had. And now it was here.
Luke offered her a smile from the front of the room, and she struggled to return it. She didn't know why it should be so difficult. This was one of her dreams, after all. An ultimate goal. Every Jedi youngling, and every knight in attendance, dreamed to reach this goal.
So why wasn't she jumping for joy?
Her mother passed her with a smile as she walked into the hall to find a place, her father followed with a clap on the shoulder. Jaina attempted to smile to them as well.
Unconsciously fidgeting and suddenly realizing that she should stand straight, she threw her shoulders back and stood tall.
Well, as tall as her petite frame would allow.
She glanced at her wristchrono. Ten minutes before her uncle would call for silence and begin the ceremony.
Ten minutes.
She wondered idly if anyone would notice if she just slipped off to the 'fresher before it all started. She'd never attended such a ceremony before, and was slightly anxious that she didn't know how long it would last. It was not really something she had felt comfortable asking. She couldn't really say, 'Oh, hey, Uncle Luke. Thanks for promoting me to Master and all. By the way, how long will I have to stand in the Grand Hall before the ceremony is finally over?'
Jaina snorted at the thought.
A throat cleared uncomfortably behind her, but she managed not to jump. How had she not noticed his presence approach?
She turned to look at him, and immediately was rendered speechless by his presence. She had not meant to see him. Not here, not now. She had meant to go to him eventually, since they were both on planet. But she had never expected him to come to her. Especially not here.
She couldn't deny her happiness that he had come, though. Not by a long shot.
His presence exuded awkwardness through the Force, now that she had reopened her senses. He moved as though to kiss her forehead, but stopped himself before he was truly near enough. Jaina was forced to settle for an awkward hug and an equally awkward smile before he strode off to find a place in the hall.
She sighed and smiled softly to herself. She remembered, bittersweet though it was to remember such things, why she had dreamt of becoming a Jedi Master. Oh, there had been the typical things—following in her uncle's footsteps, superior knowledge of the Force, respect among all worlds and cultures, the ability to carry out justice with practiced impartiality tempered in compassion.
And then there had been the real reason.
Since she had been very young—since she had begun to dabble in romantic relationships, really—she had an extra reason to attain the status of Jedi Master. Being a Jedi Master meant sitting on the council. Sitting on the council meant being able to have a home, a family of her own. It meant having abundant time to stay on-world with her children, if she ever had any. It meant a type of stability for her children that she had never had.
It meant a type of stability in a relationship that she had never truly had.
She did not regret her life as a Jedi. No, she never had and never would. But she sometimes wished that she could simply give in to her other dreams and aspirations. The ones that ended with children in her arms, children that were a mix of herself and Jag just as Alana was a mix of Tenel Ka and Jacen.
But she had been the Sword of the Jedi, and so she hurt Jag more times than she could count. Now that she had attained stability, would he still want her?
Logic said he shouldn't, and Jaina knew that Jag was logical.
xxxxxxx
Being the Head of State of the Galactic Empire was similar to being a lion tamer.
Except that there were multiple lions, and they were headstrong and refused to be trained.
Jag sighed as he signed a few more flimsiplasts. He would not miss this part of being the Head of State, but he had a nagging suspicion that his new position would require a daunting amount of flimsiwork as well.
The one thing he would miss, and miss sorely, was the wealth of information at his fingertips. In his position, he heard everything that happened in the Galactic Empire and the Galactic Alliance, and he was not eager to give up his information. The veritable sources of information that he had cultivated during his time in office would no doubt continue supplying him with most of the essentials, but he would no longer have a legitimate claim to the information. He couldn't punish or intimidate the insubordination of anyone who attempted to slip things past him.
He stopped only for a moment to gaze somewhat broodingly into the Coruscanti traffic when his comm flashed and began to beep.
"Fel here," he said into the comm.
"You have a visitor, sir," his young attendant informed him. Jag leaned back in his chair so that he could see out of the tinted transparisteel window that he had placed specifically behind the attendant's desk. The sole purpose of the panel was to allow him to see anyone who came or went from his office before they saw him. His heart leapt at the woman he saw. "She says she doesn't have an appointm—"
"Send her in, Kymsu," Jag told the young Chiss. "I'll see her now."
"Yes, sir." The comm crackled and cut out. Jag decided that efficient subordinates were the best kind.
At least, that was what he decided until he realized that it was Jaina standing out there looking like the goddess that she was, and he was sitting in here, covered in a light sheen of sweat and a slightly wrinkled uniform. But before he could rectify either of those problems, Jaina was coming through the door.
The door hissed shut behind her.
"Jag," she said quietly. She didn't need to speak louder. The strength and clarity of her beautiful voice carried even at the low volume.
His first attempt to stand was a miserable failure. His legs didn't even move. He forced the second attempt into success, if for no other reason than the simple fact that he knew that her Force sensibilities would have told her that he was stunned into speechlessness.
"Jaina," he finally managed. "You're here."
"I'm here." She dropped into the plush chair in front of his desk. Then, after a moment of silence that seemed to span the length of the galaxy, she said, "I couldn't miss the chance to say hello."
This was wrong. This was all wrong. This wasn't how he planned it this morning. He meant to go to her Master ceremony, bring her flowers, sweep her off her feet, and beg her to take him back. Their relationship could work now, with his new position. Their work wouldn't pull them apart anymore. Instead, here she was, dropping in just to say hello.
Only, this was Jaina Solo. She wouldn't drop in just to say hello. She would want a drink, at the very least. So that was what he offered her.
"Chardonay? Red wine?" He asked as he moved toward the liquor cabinet. He grinned when he opened the door. "Whiskey?"
"On the rocks, if you don't mind."
She was grinning like a sated tauntaun, but it only drove him to further turmoil. Which she could undoubtedly sense, he realized belatedly. At least she knew where he stood. He, on the other hand, didn't know a thing about why she was here.
He quickly poured the drinks and brought them back to the desk. He would need something strong if he was going to handle her here. He could barely handle being this close to her, after three years of a strict, no-contact policy. Three years that should, by all laws of justice, count against any time he had earned for himself in the Corellian Hells.
For that matter, this very moment should count against that time. She was so close, and so impossibly beautiful, and even as she began idle small talk he was having a firm chat with himself about being a gentleman and, if nothing else, a disciplined military man who could control his urges. Even if the urge was to throw his love onto his desk and show her, in no uncertain terms, how much he wanted to rekindle their relationship.
"Jag," she said with a smile. He flushed guiltily, knowing that his attention had been sidetracked, and knowing that she could very easily determine what track it had taken.
"I have a confession to make."
"You didn't hear a word I said," she cut in. "I know. The short version is this: have dinner with me tonight."
"Yes," he blurted without thinking. He frowned internally. He was not a man who blurted things out before thinking. But, at the very least, this was one thing he desperately wanted to do. "Where?"
"My apartment, in the Coruscant Palace Suites, not the Temple." She smiled, getting up, "I'll be cooking for you."
He watched her leave ruefully, wondering what he had gotten himself into.
xxxxxxx
Jaina smiled as she looked around her apartment. Everything was perfect. A-dee, her service droid, had been an amazing help and the room was currently decorated just sultry enough to give Jag the right message.
Of course, he could completely ignore the message if he wanted to…but she pushed that thought to the side. She had gone to visit him today to see if he still wanted her. And it had been clear that he had. Now she only had to get him to verbalize the idea.
She glanced at the chrono. Jag should be at the door soon. She ran off to change into that blouse she had bought. Caressing the soft red shimmersilk, she felt a slight pang when she remembered that she bought it for a date with Jag over three years ago, and had yet to wear it.
"Well, I'm wearing it now," she murmured to herself. "And he always did like it when I wore red."
The comm beeped just as she finished painting her lips with a red as vibrant as her blouse. But before she could panic about making him wait, she heard A-dee at the door.
"Welcome, Master Fel. It is good to see you again."
Jaina felt Jag's flush at the all the things that the droid had not meant to imply. She flushed a bit herself. It had been too long since he had been there.
"Jag!" She called as she emerged from the hall, "You're here."
He gave her a small smile. "I am. You certainly redecorated."
She reached out to him in the Force, sensing his uncertainty. She wanted to dispel it. She wanted him to know that she wanted the same thing he did. "It's all for you."
He smiled as an intense relief washed over his face, and Jaina silently congratulated herself.
"Dinner is ready, Mistress Solo, Master Fel."
Dinner was a pleasantly quiet affair, with nerf steaks, roasted trimmings, and uncertain glances. Jaina ached to end their suspension in limbo, but she didn't know how. She thought disdainfully that a woman in her mid-thirties should know how to talk to the man she loved.
Thankfully, A-dee was smarter than Jaina, and soft music began to play from the sitting room.
Jag stood, moving briskly to her seat and offering her his hand. She took it without a word. He led her into the sitting room, and when they began to dance all sense of awkwardness was lost. They knew each others' bodies too well to feel awkward here. As they danced silently, Jag unconsciously pulling her closer and closer, all their problems seemed to unravel.
"Jaina?" He murmured softly as they spun.
"Mmm?"
He hesitated for a moment, before pressing on. "Give us another chance."
It had nearly killed him to say it, Jaina knew. A man could only be rebuffed so many times, and Jag was already beyond his breaking point. But she smiled, because this was more proof that he still loved her.
She nodded into his chest, "I want to call you mine again."
She felt his smile. Then he tilted her chin up, and lowered his own head, and claimed her lips as his own. And she felt it, stronger and more powerfully crushing than a Mon Calamari tide, when the damn around his pent up passions broke. Three years of longing pressed upon her, making her lose her grounding and surrender to blissful oblivion.
xxxxxx
Jag woke when he felt Jaina stir, but she was merely shifting closer to him. He realized with a frown that she had already been awake for some time.
"What's with the frown, flyboy?"
He grinned at the old nickname. He had missed it. "You're already awake."
She smiled. "Yes."
Jag smiled back, knowing that she was waiting for the rest of his answer. "I like watching you wake."
"Mmm," she murmured, snuggling closer. His arms constricted around her. "Well, I could pretend to go to sleep and wake again, if you like."
Jag shook his head. "No, there's a certain calmness to your eyes when you wake, you can't copy it."
Jaina cocked her head as much as she could with a pillow blocking her movements. Then she smiled. "Well, we'll just have to do this again sometime, won't we?"
He smiled. "Sounds like an excellent plan, Master Solo."
"You know, I'm really getting tired of being called Solo," Jaina quipped lightheartedly, although she really was tired of the name.
And suddenly, the thought occurred to her. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. How was it that this had her heart racing faster than anything else she had gone through? True horrors they were, and she had been fine. But here she was, afraid of her own heart.
"How about Jaina Solo Fel?"
Jag stopped breathing for a moment.
"Marry me, Jag. I'm tired of losing you."
For a moment he laid there, somewhat stunned. Then, finally, he reassured her with the smile that spread over his face. "Thank the Force," he murmured, clutching her tighter. "Although it is a gentleman's duty to ask for a young lady's hand in marriage."
Jaina snorted. "Well, I know you're a gentleman, Jag, but I decided it was my turn this time. And I'm certainly not young anymore."
"All the more beautiful for it," he assured her, still smiling.
She grinned at the sincerity in his features. "I love you, Jag."
He grinned, kissing down her neck. "I know. I love you too."
"But how is this going to work?"
Jag stopped, debating if he should tell her now. He supposed it was as good a time as any, and she was asking.
"I've decided to accept a new position."
She cocked a brow at him, teasing. "A new position? You mean like all the ones we tried last night?"
Jag gave her a rather rogue-ish grin. "Not quite. This position will allow me to spend much more time here, on Coruscant. With you, now that you're a Jedi Master."
Jaina held in a rather uncharacteristic squeal. But she could only contain so much of her excitement, and Jag quickly found himself swept up into a heady kiss.
It was several minutes later, both panting slightly, when Jaina managed to ask. "So what is this new position?"
"I've become the ambassador for the Galactic Empire, to be predominantly concerned with relations with the New Galactic Alliance."
Jaina stared at him for a moment. "You took a demotion."
He flushed slightly. It was amazing how easily this petite woman could make him flush. Jag could swear on his family's estate that he had flushed more since he entered Jaina's quarters last night than in the entire six months previous.
"Well, yes, it is technically a demotion. One that I freely chose."
"Why did you choose it?"
Jag sighed. He knew he couldn't lie to her, but perhaps if he told her all his other reasons, she wouldn't be so upset.
"I'll admit, I knew that you were becoming a Master and I would be able to spend more time with you, but I had other reasons as well. Reasons solidly grounded in logic."
"And they were?"
"The Galactic Empire has been under my command for far too long. It is time another took my place. In fact, I have been assured that Cem will be taking my place."
"You don't want the job, so you shaft it toward your brother?" Jaina asked, only half teasing. In truth, she was still stuck on his proclamation that he took the demotion simply because he heard she would be on Coruscant more often. She truly didn't know where she found such devotion, but she resolved to never let him go again.
"Well, Cem wasn't truly eager to take it, but he understands the importance and I will be there to support him, show him the ropes. Teach him how to deal with the Moffs, and things of that nature."
"Ah," she said archly, "the Moffs. So that's why you were so eager to hand over the job."
"They're turning me prematurely gray!" He argued playfully, pointing at his temples for emphasis. And he was right. Jaina had noticed a few gray hairs sprouting at his temples. She burst out laughing as she caressed them softly.
"They make you look very distinguished."
He gave her a look. "I'm barely thirty-six."
"Yeah, well, I guess we're both getting old. We've wasted a lot of time since we were teenagers in Hapes, haven't we?"
Jag shook his head. "No. We've come a long way, but we haven't wasted time. Look what we've made."
"I guess you're right," she agreed.
"I'm always right."
"Hey there, flyboy," she told him, taking up his teasing tone, "No one's ever called you a deity. But as I recall, I had an entire fleet calling me Goddess."
Jag grinned. "Well, if you want beauty, sure, you'd be a goddess. But tactical brains, now that would be me."
She pretended to be upset by his teasing, but he saw through her ruse.
"Well, I had enough strategy to get the Goddess to marry me, after all."
"You really took the position just because you heard I would be on-plant more often? That's a long shot, even for you—no logic at all."
He looked down at her, nearly bursting at the seams with entirely illogical happiness. "Well, there was no logic involved. It was more of a desperate man clinging to an outcropping after he's fallen off a cliff." He raised a finger to her lips, stopping what he knew would be an apology. "It doesn't matter any more. It didn't even go according to plan—"
"Well so much for your tactical genius, then."
He smiled. "I was planning to court you, you know. Starting with small meetings about issues of state, becoming friends again, trying to get you to fall for me."
"So what happened?" Jaina pouted, "I have no problems with being courted."
Jag grinned. "How about this—I get to put an engagement ring on your finger, and you get to be courted?"
"Sounds like a fine tactical plan. Except it's backwards. You're supposed to do the courting, then the ring."
"Well, you got a free pass last night because I was a starved man. But if there's no ring on your finger, I won't be getting into your bed."
"The ring coming first sounds just fine."
"I thought so too."
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I hope you enjoyed it! And please review :D