The sound of the comm-link beeping coaxed his eyes open, and he gently moved his arm out from underneath Jaina, who had fallen into a light slumber. Compulsion led Wedge to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead before he left the room, pulling his underuni and pants back on. Before slapping the comm open, he clipped the belt of he pants closed and dropped into his seat.
"General Anti…" his voice came out hoarse, and he had to clear his throat before he began again, "General Antilles here, sorry for the wait…"
"Not a problem sir, your lift will be arriving in a few minutes," the docking officer told him.
"Thank you." He flicked the comm-link off and walked back to the sleeping quarters for what felt like the millionth time in the past 10 hours. He stood in the doorway for a few moments, just watching the Jedi woman's sleeping form. He smiled and called gently, "Jaina…"
She blinked her eyes open and sat up in bed, drawing the sheets around her body. A wistful smile quirked her lips as she looked over at him, "Time to go?"
Wedge nodded, heading over to the storage compartments to get any luggage that he had for the trip. A few minutes later, Jaina came out of the back quarters, zipping her flight jacket and running a hand to smooth down her hair. She grabbed her own bags and headed down the open ramp, where the lift had arrived and was waiting.
Wedge completed the final close down checks and followed after her. The docking officers loaded their luggage onto the lift and the two got on. Though Jaina wanted to sit right next to him, rest her head against his shoulder, she knew it would be much better if the Galactic Alliance general and Jedi Knight cum-Squadron leader kept their distance. There would be plenty of people who would benefit from the knowledge of the emotions they had shared in the Firebird.
Jaina watched over the side of the lift, looking at the white sanded beaches and sparkling oceans that she had been commanded to spend the next week relaxing on. Wedge would be doing most of the actual meetings with possible candidates, but the planets small flight training school was holding a gala dinner for their visit. Being a fighter pilot, these two things were something she wasn't used to.
Wedge watched her the entire way to the grand chambers. Rumor flew quickly around the squadrons of the Alliance. Her and his nephew Jag's affair had been short-lived because of this. Once too many people start talking, too many people find out, and it could have put either of their lives on the line. From what he had seen when Jag returned to the area during Diplomatic missions, the two still remained friends, but there was an uncomfortable air of loneliness between them. Wedge played with this in his mind. He was a Corellian, and a seasoned fighter pilot; he was used to making calls and having a good game face, but at this moment he was completely lost.
Jaina closed her eyes and felt the soft breeze that hit her face and pushed her hair back. When she opened them again, she caught Wedge staring at her. She gave him a small smile which he returned. They remained in silence until they reached the grand chambers. The two were lead to their suite, which encompassed a main sitting area with a balcony overlooking the shoreline, and two large bedrooms with 'fresher units in each. Bell caps dropped their luggage in the two bedrooms. Wedge walked to the small refrigeration unit and opened it. A satisfied smile touched his lips as he pulled out a small bottle of Kashi wine and another of Corellian brandy.
"Something to drink, Jaina?" he asked as she opened the sliding glass panel to the balcony.
"A glass of wine please," she said before strolling out on the balcony. The sun was setting over the ocean. Jaina walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the stone edge. She heard Wedge's footsteps behind her, "It's beautiful here."
"Not a bad place for a mission, hmm?" he asked, snaking his arm around the front of her to hand her the glass of wine.
"Thank you," she said politely, taking a sip, "I want to try and get a hold of my brother using the holovid a little later on, see how my parents are doing, let them know we got here all right."
"Not a problem, you know the codes," Wedge told her, swirling the brandy around in his glass, "Speaking of your family…I don't want to be too forward about this but…"
"I know, you're worried they'll find out and my father will come after you and my mother and brother and uncle will torture you with Jedi tricks…"
"The thought had crossed my mind."
"It's not going to happen, they just won't find out. I've kept things from the people I'm bonded to before," a small silence filled the air before she spoke again, "Jag?"
"I think you've spent enough time on Corellia to know the tricks it teaches you; the situation will remain between the two of us."
"Situation?"
The awkwardness that he knew was coming immediately hit them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that," he took a sip from his glass, and found himself unable to correct his error. Jaina chuckled lightly.
"It's quite all right; I understand what you mean…I think that we should just take what happened at face value. That's what I'm going to do, at least."
Wedge gulped down the rest of the brandy he was drinking and set the glass down on the ledge. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and set himself to use the charm that almost every Rogue Squadron pilot had acquired over the years.
"Is that what you want to do?" he asked, moving towards her slowly.
Jaina glanced at him over her shoulder, her brown eyes hiding a playful nature.
"Are you coming on to me," she added an edge to his name, "General Antillies?"
"Coming on to you?" he asked, "I don't think I even have to do that."
Jaina put her glass down and they were in each others arms again, kissing against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset. She had never felt so safe; he had never felt so alive. In that moment, nothing else mattered to either of them. The moment lasted for days on end. There had been no point to having a two bedroom suite; they shared a bed every night. When Wedge went to speak to prospective trainees, Jaina spent her time on the white sanded beaches, the warm, crystal clear water lapping at her feet as she relaxed for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.
In the early hours of their last morning, Jaina was awakened by the sound of the doorchime. She sat up groggily, glancing over at Wedge, who was sleeping peacefully at her side. She smiled and pulled herself out of the bed, taking her dressing robe and sliding it over her sleeping gown. She walked to the door, looking at the security vid to see who it was. She was surprised to see her sandy haired uncle there.
Jaina very quickly and quietly ran over to the other room and messed up the bed to make it seem as if she had been sleeping there. She had left her luggage in there, too lazy to lug it over to the other bedroom. She calmed down as she walked back to the door, telling herself that she had nothing to worry about, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary to be found.
She opened the door, and her uncle smiled at her.
"Hey, did I wake you?" Luke asked as she opened the door all the way so he could enter.
"Yes, but it's not a problem, Wedge has to be up in a little while anyway," she answered, closing the door and turning to give him a hug. They embraced, and Luke moved back from her, a curious look on his face. Jaina became very nervous.
"When is the last time you had a medi-check?" he asked.
"Before we left, why?" she asked.
"You should get another one when you go home," he said, face still curious. He glanced down for a moment and smiled when he looked back up at her, letting her go, "Surprised to see me?"
"Yes, actually…" Jaina blinked away his comment, but was still confused by it.
"They invited me last minute to the gala tonight, I figured I'd show up, surprise the two of you, maybe spend today on the beach with my favorite niece…"
Jaina looked to where the sun was coming up outside the large windows of the sitting room. They both heard Wedge as he got out of bed. He came to the doorway of the bedroom, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, "Jaina…?"
"Uncle Luke got invited to the gala tonight, he decided to surprise us," Jaina filled in quickly.
"Ah, Luke, good to see you," he said, clasping his former squad mate and friend's arm in greeting, "Sadly I can't stay and chat, duty calls, I've got potentials to speak to, but I'll see you tonight then."
"Till then…" Luke said as he turned back into the room and shut the door. He looked over and caught Jaina staring at the door. She covered up with a yawn.
"I am absolutely exhausted…" she said, stretching her arms for show.
"Yes," Luke replied, "I'm actually going to go lay down for a little while myself. Would you like to get breakfast and then head down to the beach later?"
"Absolutely, that'd be great."
Luke smiled at her and headed to the door, letting himself out. Jaina took a deep breath and sighed it out, walking back to the bedroom and flopping down on the bed, spreading herself out over Wedge's absence.
"You looked nervous out there," she heard his voice from the 'fresher.
She groaned softly. Caught between a Jedi Master and a General who had been majoring on reading expressions since he was her age. She leaned onto her side, facing away from the door.
"Momentary lapse in confidence, that's all," she answered.
Wedge came out of the 'fresher, dressed in his flight suit, insignias and awards pinned on. He was ready to make an impression. He walked to the side of the bed, sitting down on it gingerly. He reached a gentle hand out and stroked her dark hair.
"Don't worry about it. I should be back a few hours before the gala, I assume you'll be getting ready by then…"
"How exciting," Jaina preferred to not have to go through getting squeezed into a dress, having her hair pulled and twisted into an intricate hairstyle, and having her face painted up, "Hopefully the beauty maids here won't be asking too much."
Wedge smiled and leaned down, kissing her. He gave her a pat on the side and stood. Jaina closed her eyes as he left, scrunching the luxurious linens of the bed in her hands. She fell asleep rather quickly, waking up a few hours later when the sun was shining so bright that keeping her eyes closed wasn't going to help.
She got out of bed and headed into the refresher. She dressed and got ready, knowing that when she got down to his chambers, Luke would have already been up and prepared. She was right, and the two headed down to the main dining hall of the grand chambers to have a light breakfast.
The talk over the meal was mostly a check- up on how the family was doing. Her parents were excited to see the gala that evening on the holovid. In Luke's absence, her brother was helping keep things under control with Ben, who, now in his terrible toddler years, was running Mara nearly out of her mind. Jaina smiled as he told her these stories, a sad smile. Her former master should feel lucky for her blessing of the little boy, especially one as force strong as little Ben was turning out to be.
Luke and Jaina headed out onto the beach. Most of the time was spent walking up and down the white-sanded shoreline. The conversation turned to her, and Luke couldn't help but ask just what was going on in her head.
"You don't seem like yourself at all, really…" he told her, having received quite a look after asking.
"Just getting older I guess…getting older and feeling like I'm serving a purpose I really don't want to serve. You and mom got lucky…at this point in your life, it seems like it's family first, Jedi practice second…"
"I can assure you that's not true, I have a lot on my plate, respectively, I've just learned how to handle it all better…"
"I think I'm just looking for a different responsibility. I feel like I can only be a pilot so long."
"Look at Wedge; he's been in and out of retirement constantly in the past 8 years. He's flown, commanded, led, all far after the time that he should have," Luke reasoned with her.
"Wedge is an extraordinary man," Jaina said, with a little more conviction that she actually thought she was going to.
"Yes," Luke said thoughtfully, "Yes he is."
The conversation steered to less serious matters as the two soaked in the warm sunlight. Luke mentioned how tan she had gotten, saying she looked more like her father than her mother at this point. Jaina countered back that she had actually been thinking of having cosmetic changes done on her eyes and hair to give her a new look all together, but wasn't planning on doing it until she was going to have the opportunity she wanted to have to live a different lifestyle.
Luke smiled. In all his years he had never thought of any kind of changes that he needed. His once sun bleached blonde hair had darkened to a calm sandy light brown color with age, and his bright blue eyes still held the same sparkle of promise that they did when he was Jaina's age.
They walked until the sun was far off in the western sky, then headed back to the grand chambers so that Jaina could be readied for the night's extravagance. Her uncle needed minimal time to get ready for the gala, so he headed back to his room to take another nap. Jaina went back to her room, and she had barely gotten out of the 'fresher when there was a knock at the door. She let in a team of five stylists, all wheeling in either a rack of dresses, containers of cosmetics and hair products, or the brightly lit mirror they turned on as soon as they got in the room.
They started poking and prodding at her instantly, taking close account of her eyes, hair, and body shape as they scoured the racks for the right gown for her to wear. Jaina became quite bored with the process quite quickly and found herself staring out the window, her gaze resting on the turquoise blue ocean. She thought for a moment, and then her gaze snapped back to the dresses on the racks.
She walked over to them, pushing the stylists aside and began to go through the racks herself. She pulled out a dress and held it towards the window. The dress was form fitting, strapless, beaded with aquamarine crystals, and shone just as brightly in the same light blue hue of the ocean. She looked at the stylists, "This is the one I want…"
"But Mistress Solo," one spoke up, "It's so…"
"Different?" Jaina finished, "This is the one."
"You're sure? I don't think a woman of your stature should be in such a scandalous dress." Another dared voice their opinion.
"That is a dress for a holovid drama star; you're so far beyond that."
Jaina gave them the equivalent of her father's stubborn death stare. She thought of the look on Wedge's face when he would see her that evening.
"This is the gown." Jaina said once more, "I want my hair in cascading curls, the sides pinned back with diamonds and gems of this color. Find me jewelry to match the dress, and shoes also."
The stylists just stared at her.
"Now." She said simply, putting a little force influence on her speech.
They all began moving at once, and in the next few hours, Jaina got exactly what she wanted. Just before it was time to head down to the gala, Jaina looked in the mirror, smiling. She didn't even look like the fighter pilot; she looked like the Goddess that they had once toted her as during the battles with the Yuuzhan Vong.
Wedge and Luke had both been prepared elsewhere. Wedge was dressed in his special black formal flight suit. His pins, insignias, awards, and chains had all been shined and cleaned. Luke was wearing his ceremonial Jedi uniform, which he had also pinned his newly cleaned awards and rankings to. They had arrived together and were walking around the huge ballroom, making conversation with each other as well as the patrons that had been invited.
Calls of horns lead their attention to the large ivory doors of the ballroom. Holovid cameras swung toward the opening as what seemed like the main event was lead into the ballroom. Luke was taken aback by the sight of his niece. She looked absolutely breathtaking, and the crowed breathed out a collective "Ahh" at the sight of her. Wedge, who had been in mid conversation with another woman, nearly had his jaw unhinge at the sight of the young woman who he had now fully convinced himself that he had fallen for.
Luke could hear Leia in the back of his mind. He could feel that her family was just as amazed by how beautiful she looked, the grace she portrayed, and the incredible sex appeal Jaina oozed as the realization hit her that all these people were staring in amazement at her, and she could do nothing else but smile and let out a laugh unlike anything Luke had ever heard from her. She was no longer a child; she had grown into an adult faster than anyone he had ever seen do so.
"Blasters…" he heard Wedge whisper softly under his breath. Luke looked over to him and noticed something a little off in his friend's eyes as he looked at his niece. Luke simply shrugged it off as the gala resumed, Jaina being led down the stairs and out of the immediate attention of the entire ballroom.