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The Next Day

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Angel," Jaina answered as she deftly plaited Hope's long, think, untamable hair into her usual pigtails, one on ether side of her head.

"Tell me again, who's the man taking us to the zoo?"

Jaina finished applying the band to the end of the braid and came to lean down before her daughter as she sat on the edge of the refresher sink. Taking a deep breath, Jaina explained as best as she could, "Moff Fel is a good friend of mine, and he was a friend of your daddy's too. We fought in the last couple of wars together." Though that wasn't exactly true, since they had been enemies during the Swarm War, she felt that would be too much to explain to a three-year-old.

"But I know all your friends."

Jaina smiled as she tugged on Hope's left braid. "And you are about to meet another. Moff Fel moved back to the Empire before Daddy and Mommy got married, but we've stayed in touch." Again she stretched the truth; she had only spoken to Jag twice in all the years since he left her apartment after the end of the war.

However, most of the reason for the lack of contact between them had been because of her; she had wanted to distance herself as far as possible from him and the love she had still felt for him while married to Zekk. Even his call last year, after hearing about Zekk's death, hadn't made reconnecting their friendship seem right. Zekk's death was too new to her, but she had needed that hour conversation with her friend, it helped her to begin healing. Since she too moved to the Empire to open her Jedi academy, she hadn't realized how much she neglected her friendship with Jag until yesterday's unexpected call. She was glad that Jag still considered her enough of a friend to look her up.

Finally, she held Hope under her arms and lifted her off her usual hair-styling perch and kissed her forehead. As she deposited her on the tile floor, she added, "Now, let's go finish getting ready." Then to herself she deadpanned, "I'm sure Jag hasn't changed his nasty habit of punctuality since I've last seen him."

They entered the living room and Jaina instructed Hope to have a seat on the couch as she went to find her shoes. She looked in the usual spot, beside the door, but they weren't there. After remembering that Hope had been asleep last evening when they came home from the academy, Jaina looked in the girl's bedroom. However, the shoes she wanted weren't in there either.

"Stang," she cursed to herself wondering where they could be. Coming back out into the living room, Jaina asked the little girl sitting patiently on the couch playing with a small stuffed whisperkit. "Hope, do you know where your shoes are?"

Hope looked up at her and shook her head, sending her braids a flying around her face and head. "No, Mommy."

"Well, they have to be here somewhere." Jaina then proceeded to search the living room, starting with the corner that was dedicated to Hope's collection of TIE fighters, X-wings, a few flashy air speeders, a toy replica of the Millennium Falcon and her dolls, doll furniture and doll clothes.

But there were no little girl's shoes.

Shivit! Jag will be here in less then ten minutes!

Almost giving up on the practical walking shoes that she had wanted Hope to wear, she decided to look one more place. Remembering that Hope and she had watched an animated holo after her nap and dinner, she decided to look under the couch.

But again no shoes.

Then she looked under the lower shelf of the end table.

"Found them!" Jaina announced and Hope clapped her hands together.

"Yay!" both mother and daughter squealed.

But, as Jaina was getting up, her eyes fell onto the hologram sitting on the table next to the lamp, and her breath caught.

It was a holo that had been taken only a few days after Hope had been born. The baby lay in Jaina's arms while she sat on a chair at the table in the main hold of the Falcon. Zekk stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at Hope. It was a horrid picture of Jaina, but even she could see in her still bloated face the love that shown there for the little girl cradled in her arms, while Zekk all but glowed with fatherly pride.

And as she looked at Zekk, Jaina's heart beat with the old familiar ache of not having him with her. She sat back on her hunches and dropped the shoes which were in her hand and instead picked up the holo.

"Mommy, why are you sad?" Hope asked as she stood beside Jaina, with her small hand on her shoulder. "You still miss Daddy?"

Jaina tore her eyes from the holograph to look at her daughter. "Yes, Angel, I miss your daddy. I loved him very much and today is very hard on me."

Hope cocked her head to the side and looked at the holo. "I don't like you being so sad. Find a new daddy someday?"

Jaina put the frame back in its place and took the little girl into her arms. "Oh, baby, it's not that easy. Your daddy will always be your daddy. I don't ever what you to forget him."

Just then the doorbell rang. Jaina pushed Hope away slightly and stood up. After telling her to sit back down on the couch, she went to the door to open it. Taking a deep breath, she palmed the pad and the metal door slid open.

Jaina was rather taken aback by the man standing on the other side. He was dressed in tan trousers, a plain white shirt and black leather jacket. His hands clasped behind his back as he waited for her to open the door and one of his half-smiles played on his lips. But what struck her was the air of power that swirled around him. He was being touted as one of the greatest governors the Taroon System had ever had in the year and a half that he had held the position after his co-governor stepped down after his wife and two children were killed in a speeder accident. Now Jag governed the entire system on his own and as the system's Moff.

"Hello, Jaina."

Jaina caught her breath, a breath she didn't even know she had lost. "Jag, hi. Come in. We're just about ready."

Jag stepped in and the door closed behind him. Smiling, he said, "Some things never change."

Jaina tossed him a mock glare and he laughed. Suddenly, Hope appeared before Jag and looked up at him, her head cocked to the side as she regarded him. Jag kneeled down and grinned as he held out his hand. Hope took it and Jag said, "Well, you must be Hope. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally get to meet you."

"Hello, Moff Fel. Mommy said you and her and my daddy were friends."

Jag glanced up at Jaina who was moving toward the couch. "Yes, we were. Your daddy was a great man."

Hope then leaned in and said just loud enough for Jaina to hear, "Today Daddy will be gone for a year. Mommy is sad. Can you make her happy again?"

Jag looked up to find Jaina staring at him. He answered, never taking his eyes from hers, "I would like to try."

"Good. Now I better get my shoes on or Mommy will be mad."

With that, she turned and skipped back to the couch, climbed up in her usual spot, and waited for Jaina to recover from what she had just overheard. It somehow both broke her heart and oddly excited her at the same time. Standing up, Jag shrugged and gave Jaina a smile. She smiled back in silence and turned to put on Hope's shoes as she wondered exactly what Jag was up to today.

The day had been fun; the Imperial Zoo was one of the most complete in the galaxy, only Coruscant had one that was larger. But after six hours, Hope finally tuckered out and fell asleep. Jaina looked over at her daughter as she was being carried in Jag's arms with her head on his shoulder.

"We could wake her up or rent a stroller. I should have been thinking that she would never make it the whole day without wanting to nap after lunch and brought hers," Jaina apologized not for the first time since Jag took her from Jaina after she became fussy and started dozing off. Jaina had been happy when he offered to take her. She wasn't that heavy, Jaina could always use the Force to help her carry her, but she was getting too tall as compared to Jaina's petit form for her to carry her comfortably.

"She's not bothering me. I'm amazed that she has taken to me so easily," Jag responded as he gently soothed Hope's back. Then he suggested, "There's a bench, let's sit for a while as she sleeps. Then I'll take you two to dinner."

Jaina laughed as she sat down on the bench beside him. "You really do have the whole day free. I'm surprised; according to the HoloNet and the tabloids if it's not the Moffs, or your planets keeping you busy, it's your fiancée."

Jaina watched as Jag looked away from her to look back to the sleeping child cradled in his arms. "You know you can't believe everything you read or see in the HoloNet."

Taking a deep breath, Jaina said, "I want to thank you, Jag. Today would have been almost unbearable without your wonderful distraction of the zoo. That's why I took today off from the academy."

Swallowing, Jag reached over and took Jaina's hand from her lap. She flicked her eyes up to meet his and he sadly smiled. "I knew today would be brutal on you, Jaina. I haven't been the friend I should have been. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to call you or show up at the academy, but I…" He looked down at the child lightly snoring against his chest and shoulder. "She is very much Zekk's child. Besides looking like him and having his height, she's practical and forgiving."

Jaina stared at him taken aback. "Jag?"

He met her eyes and shrugged his free shoulder. "Zekk and I had become very good friends, Jaina, despite our mutual interest in you. I'm sorry he's not here to watch her grow up."

Jaina watched as his eyes fell upon Hope again and he continued to hold Jaina's hand. She suddenly felt something akin to longing in him and wondered about it. However, Jag had always been good at shielding his emotions, even from her and the impression didn't last but a few moments. During the day as they viewed and fed the animals, their conversation stayed on safe topics—Jaina's academy, Jag's trials and triumphs as a governor and Moff, and their families. However, not once did he mention Baroness Ralene Tagge, his fiancée who shared his mansion at his estate in Vissaary, the capital of Ruan and the new governmental seat for the system.

Letting out a breath, she softly asked, "Why haven't you married, Jag?" He stoked Hope's arm with the hand wrapped around her and Jaina felt his longing again. "You'd make such a wonderful father."

He stopped his motion and looked out over the crowd that bustled along the paved path between the holograms of extinct animals as they appeared in their natural habits. "I doubt that I will ever have that privilege. Ralene is quite adamant that she wishes not to have any children. She'd rather leave the responsibly for providing an heir for the Tagge fortune and title to her younger sister."

"And what about you? That seems rather selfish. You always wanted kids."

He looked over at Jaina and she was struck by the sadness she saw flash in his green depths for a few fractions of a heartbeat. "At one time I did. Now I think children would just complicate things. I'm actually happy with Ralene's decision."

They sat there for another few moments in complete silence, but Jaina suddenly wondered if Jag truly was happy with his life. She remembered the ball at the Imperial Embassy and his comment about not needing love as long as he was happy.

"Jagged," she paused, allowing him to meet her gaze, she squeezed the hand she forgot she still held and went on, "what's really going on? If you really don't love her, why remain with her. You've been engaged for years."

He took a deep breath, and as he let it out, he softly admitted, "I haven't married her because I don't love her. I don't know if I'll ever love anyone again." He looked away before beginning again. "But, before you lecture me on my lack of emotion for her, please try to understand that I do consider Ralene a wonderful friend and she loves me," he added quietly. "I just can't bring myself to leave her even if I can't ever love her." He met Jaina's eyes again and she was astonished by the storm she saw in them. "I don't want to hurt her."

"Jag?" she whispered suddenly thrilled and afraid at the same time, not for what he said, but for what he didn't.

He released her hand and patted it as he smiled, the storm in his eyes easing. "I'll be okay, Jaina. Just don't stop being my friend."

She simply stared at him and softly replied, "Never."

--TBC--

Author's Note: The next part will be a vignette that will center on Jag.

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Thanks for reading...