A/N: This last chapter jumps around... really a lot. The reason? I had fun on my way to the end.

Several weeks from now...

Ailee was sitting at a table in the shipboard commissary when someone joined her. She glanced up, frowned at the woman she'd not seen before, and returned her gaze to the cup of caf in her hands. "Something you need?"

"No," the woman said slowly. "Just noticed how down you seem."

Ailee blinked for a moment, confused that anyone would care to notice. "And you care why, exactly?"

"Depression can be contagious."

Ailee glanced up at her again, noticing the teasing gleam in the woman's hazel eyes. "I'm not depressed. Just thinking about home."

"Ah. Good caf?"

"Not particularly." Ailee took a sip and grimaced. "It almost makes me wish I hadn't gone for a month straight without. The clinic's caf was better than this."

The woman frowned at her. "Why did you...?"

"It was a dare and a bet between my fiance and I. He bet I couldn't go a week without caf, I dared him to talk to my brother about us." Ailee shrugged, smiling. "We both won, and he had go without his favorite tea drink." She held out a hand, which the woman shook. "Ailee Hallan. You?"

The woman had to conceal a grin as she shook her hand. "Roganda Ismaren. You said it was a month?"

"Four weeks and one day, actually. Counting today."

Roganda stared at her. "Four weeks?"

"Yes, and I'm never dealing with an amnesiac or shuttle theft without caf again." Ailee took another sip and stared into her cup at its contents. "How do they make caf this bad, anyway?"

Roganda was, of course, stuck on the 'amnesiac and shuttle theft' part. "Is that one story or two?"

Now Ailee really looked at her, confused. "Hmmm?"

"Amnesia and shuttle theft?"

Ailee shook her head, not having really expected anyone to ask. "Oh. One story... and once most of the amnesia cleared, she was a good part of the reason we were able to steal that shuttle. Seems she had a holographic memory and training at one point as a construction engineer's assistant... the diagrams she drew of the base were amazing. Sorry I confused you. Long week."

Roganda nodded. She could relate, because it really was turning out to be a long week, and about to get longer. "Know the feeling."

"So what's your story? About your week, I mean."

Roganda chuckled. "Long year, actually. A friend was captured and frozen in carbonite eleven months ago. We only just got him back this week, and now..." She motioned to the bulkhead of the ship around them. "More action."

"Oh. How's your friend?" Carbon freezing? She knew animals could survive it, but people?

Roganda smiled. "Better every day and likely bored out of his skull." She focused on a point behind and above Ailee. "Right, Han?"

Ailee turned to find a man standing there. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, short brown hair, brown eyes... enticing in that Corellian kind of way. "Oh. Hi."

Han frowned. "Ganda, I am not bored out of my skull."

"If you say so, Captain," Roganda told him teasingly.

"I'm sorry," Ailee said, drawing his attention to her. "She said you were frozen. Any residual side effects like blindness?"

Han stared down at her. "You're a medic, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"No. I feel fine." At a snort from behind her, he glared at Roganda. "What?"

"Truth?"

"Truth. Felt a little freeze dried for a while, but it's fading fast and now I'd just like to shoot something."

Roganda chuckled. "Thought so. Just don't tell the princess that."

As Han rolled his eyes, snorted, and walked away, Ailee turned back to look at Roganda, amused at his phrasing. "Shoot something?"

"Storm Troopers," Roganda offered. "Also, he wasn't being particularly truthful, either. You didn't ask about residual headaches directly."

Ailee shook her head. "Didn't even register that I might need to ask." She glanced down at her nearly empty cup, wondering if she'd chance another cup. "Other than all that..."

"How's my week been?"

"Yes."

"Not too bad, actually." Roganda suddenly smiled when a comm device Ailee hadn't noticed her wearing made three prolonged chirps that almost sounded like an astromech unit. "And getting better all the while. He's late."

"Who?"

Roganda shook her head as she stood up. "Not the time. Have a mission brief to get to."

Ailee watched as half the personnel in the commissary vacated the premises and wondered why she suddenly felt very out of the loop. What briefing and who was late? She almost jumped from being startled when Darvis joined her at the table. "These people are strange."

Darvis did his best not to laugh. "Your brother is in love with an amnesiac who glows on occasion. I hardly think you have room to call anyone strange."

Ailee drank the last of her caf in grimacing silence. He had a point.

Days before that...

It was odd, having nothing but silence and togetherness as they sat on the couch in his living room after all was said and done. No more wild plans to think through, no more shuttles to steal... no more surprise visits made by his sister at odd hours because she couldn't seem to stay away.

At his chuckle, she glanced up at him. "What's so funny?"

"I wonder if Pettia will try to fill the void and suddenly start visiting every day."

"Drev..."

"What?"

"You love your sisters. They love you. It's good to see them a lot."

He nodded slowly. "I know that, Glowbug. I know." They settled into comfortable silence for minutes longer before he broke it again. "So... is there anyone I should be asking permission from?"

"For what?" Taloh wondered.

"Your hand in marriage."

She froze, turned to face him completely, shock clearly written on her face. "What?"

He smiled. "Was that the wrong way to ask?"

"You. Want to marry. Me?"

"Yes."

She studied him intently for a moment. "Why?"

"Answer my question first, Taloh."

"The one about asking for permission?"

"That one, yes..."

Shaking her head, she sat up straighter. "No. There's no one you need to ask permission for my hand, Drev Hallan. Just me. And now you need to answer mine."

"You're different. I like what you draw, that art is your release. That you didn't know what a computer was and now you can at least try to use one in a pinch. That you occasionally do something weird like a ceremony with candels, and that your sister cared that much to intervene from beyond." He grasped her hand and the glow appeared. "And I love you, in spite of how weird my life has been since you walked into the bar that night and melted glass with your fingers. So, Taloh Deela Knightshield... will you marry me?"

Her immediate response was a kiss. Later, when they both caught their breath again, she said yes enthusiastically and then proceeded to tell him why she was doing so in the same manner. It turned out to be an interesting topic of conversation.

A week or two before that...

Ailee stared at the odd drawing over Taloh's shoulder. One circle inside another bigger one with a point in the middle of the top one and lines that branched off in seemingly random directions. "What is that?"

Taloh glanced up at her. "Dunno. Woke up with an image of this and just had to draw it this morning."

It was something that they'd all wonder about for a long while...

A couple days after that...

Drev was starting to wish someone else would volunteer their residence for a resistance cell meeting. At least this one had been productive... and was it good or bad that someone had managed to steal two uniforms? He glanced at Taloh to find her staring at two members of the meeting. Odd. Very odd. Those were the same two that had turned up with the uniforms.

When the meeting broke up, the man and the woman stayed behind and Ailee started to introduce them, only to be stopped by Taloh.

Taloh held up a hand and frowned at the woman. "Rala, what in creation are you doing here?"

The woman stared at her. "You... you know?" She pulled her husband closer and hugged him. "Wait. How do you know?"

"Know what?" Drev wondered. "And how do you know them, Glowbug?"

The man blinked and disentangled himself from Rala reluctantly. "You call her Glowbug and she allows it?"

"Is there something else I should be calling her?" Drev asked him. The man shrugged.

"Stop it," Taloh said sternly, still staring at Rala. "What are you doing here, Ralarna Faith Trason?"

Rala winced. "I deserved that. I totally did. We're here for you, actually."

"For me?"

"Yes. You. As in: do we or do we not tell you what happened to yourself? Whuki and I spent months and years discussing it, had an argument or three, and here we are. To stay."

Ailee sighed and looked at Whuki. "This is going to be one of those talks, isn't it?" He chuckled and nodded in answer.

Taloh glanced at the procured uniforms for a long, long moment. "Please tell me you stole those from the garrison, Rala."

"Would that make you feel better about participating in Operation Shuttle Theft?"

"Yes."

Rala grinned. "We didn't steal them from the Garrison. We borrowed Ranko and Peter's Halloween costumes. Don't ask why those two had cosplay-level Imperial uniforms, because I don't know."

Drev looked at Ailee. "Why do I get the funny feeling that we're missing something important?"

"Because we are?" She suggested helpfully.

Taloh chuckled. "You know this already, Drev. That night in the kitchen, remember? This is Rala, and he's Whuki. They're..."

"Techinally, I'm your niece," Rala supplied when Taloh trailed off. "And he's your nephew-in-law."

"I am... your aunt?" At this, Rala handed her a scrap of flimsy that had something drawn on it. One line that kept going, but branched out into another line, with a squiggly line that reconnected the two near the beginning of the second one that spiraled from the end of the first one. Taloh blinked at the representation, stared at Rala for a long, long moment, and then studied it some more. "Oh. This..."

"Is what we think happened to you in line-art terms. And I can't very well call you mother, now can I?"

Drev started in surprise, now only just recognizing them from the shared memories. "Oh... oh!"

Taloh glanced at him, then nodded her head in reply. "No. I guess you can't."

Suddenly, Rala produced a hard-copy book from thin air, smirked at Ailee's stunned expression, and handed it to Taloh. "And this is for you, also."

"What is it?"

"A compilation of Mom's journals. And before you ask, no. She didn't know about the split, nor did Susan or I mention it to her. We couldn't." When Taloh looked at her in confusion, Rala shrugged. "Don't ask. It was hard enough explaining it in such a way that didn't seem too strange to be believed."

"Why is that?" Drev wondered, frowning at her phrasing.

Rala sat down in a chair and looked at him, and suddenly he had a flash of familiarity. Taloh had looked at him once like that recently, just days after coming into his life, with that same sense of age in her eyes. "Because we had to cover up a much bigger mess than we thought, Mr. Hallan. Suddenly, it wasn't just an annomalous invasion, but rather something much bigger and far closer to home. Can we talk about something else now?"

Whuki sat down next to her and nodded. "Sure. How badly do you think we could screw up stealing a shuttle from an Imperial Garrison?"

Something about this conversation was stirring Taloh's memory... "What makes you think we'll screw it up? It's only humans we're dealing with!"

Rala blinked at her. "Of all the things you know... that's the event you remember? Really?"

Drev frowned at Rala. "What?"

"Mom once had a hand in planning to steal a space ship from an underground hangar. It... didn't go well and everyone, or so I understand, ended up in therapy for months." Rala chuckled and shook her head at Taloh's confused expression. "Nobody thought to account for the ferocity of the giant, carnivorous worms. And I still don't get why they wanted to steal the ship in the first place."

"An advantage," Taloh muttered, and then her eyes went distant and they stared at her.

Ailee cursed silently, knowing that they were in for a long night.

Rala frowned as she studied Taloh's distant expression, then glanced at Drev. "She still has amnesia?"

"Yes," he told her. "Though she's much better now than she was when she turned up in the bar that first night." At Rala's questioning head tilt, he shook his head. "Don't ask. Really. Don't."

"Don't need to. I know already. Saw the damage after we heard about the garrison going on high alert." Ralarna sighed, and led Taloh to the couch and made her sit down. "Wasn't all that hard to put two and two together."

Drev and Ailee stared at her while Whuki shook his head in consternation. "If you knew what happened, why didn't you..."

"It's not that simple," Whuki interrupted before Rala could explain. "We weren't allowed to interfere. That is the price of being here. As long as the situation was under control, there was no need."

"But stealing Imperial uniforms and joining a resistance cell is fine?" Ailee wondered, trying to wrap her thoughts around what he'd just said. "And how do you know everything was under control?"

"Nothing else blew up."

Drev snorted at that answer. "Sure. That doesn't mean it couldn't have happened."

"Shhh," Rala told them as she turned her complete attention to Taloh, who suddenly blinked, tried to stand up, and let out a stifled shriek. Then she blinked again and stared at Rala, as if just realizing she was there. "Sorry for sparking that one. Really, I am. If Jill were here, she'd bawl me out for it."

Taloh took several deep breaths to calm down, nodded. "I knew there would be things I wouldn't want to know, Ralarna. Have to take the bad with the good... even if this is something I'd really rather not ever have known. Am I right that the mission was a successful failure?"

Rala nodded. "The ship ended up being destroyed, along with a part of the underground complex. The Visser, however... stood trial by war crimes tribunal. The ambassador who served as magistrate had trouble keeping a straight face, because they'd never presided over a tribunal before."

Dref suddenly blinked and left the room, returning with a piece of flimsy, which he handed to Rala. "Is that what we're talking about?"

Rala studied the drawing for a long moment, taking in the image of the aforementioned ambassador staring up at her from the flimsy. "Oh my. Are there more like this one?"

"In the kitchen," Drev told her. "Why?"

Rala's explanation of an entire cabin filled with art did much to explain the growing wall of art in his kitchen.

Elsewhere...

Destiny glanced up from the morning paper when Susan entered the kitchen of the house they shared. "Good morning."

"Not before coffee," Susan muttered, pouring herself a cup. "And remind me to never again let my daughter talk me into going with her to one of those. They're boring and I always want Vodka afterward."

Destiny chuckled. "I'll remember that for the next time. And that hangover is your own fault."

"Love you, too."

Destiny rolled her eyes in mock annoyance and returned to reading the paper. "Package came for you this morning, Sue."

Susan turned away from the coffee maker, took a long sip, and noticed the package on the table. "Do you know from where?"

"You'll just have to see for yourself."

"Destiny..."

"What?"

"It's far too early for games," Susan muttered as she sat down at the table and stared at the package that had a card attached to it. Setting down the coffee cup, she opened the card. Reading it, she blinked in surprise. "That's weird."

"What is?"

"This is from Rala. She thinks I'll find it interesting and enlightening."

Opening the package, Susan found a binder full of drawings done in varying styles. The very first one was of their team patch: six crescent moons at varying angles inside a circle.

The note had read: "Sue, I came across something interesting I thought you should see. Spent three hours copying them just for you. It's enlightening to see these and know that I almost stayed away entirely. I'm glad I didn't. -Rala"

Five months on...

Taloh had been surprised when Rala and Whuki showed up unannounced with ten other people in tow, and befuddled at their request to perform a ceremony when the wedding was the next day. It just didn't make any sense as she held hands with Drev and strands of what seemed to be really flexible metal were draped over them to words accompanying each color.

When the last strand was added, the combined strands glowed and merged together into two separate bracelets, both the same colors of silver, white, and gold.

Rala smiled at the confused looks both of them threw at her. "You're bonded. Sort of like a wedding, only not."

Drev frowned at her. "But the wedding is tomorrow."

"And we couldn't have done this at the wedding," she told him. "So we compromised... Uncle Drev."

He sighed. "I'm not your uncle!"

"Could be worse. I could call you Dad instead."

Drev glanced at Taloh to find her laughing silently, shoulders bouncing in silent hilarity. "You find this funny?"

"Sure," Taloh told him. Then she looked directly at Dawn in question. "Just out of curiosity... could she?"

Dawn smiled enigmatically. "I know better than to give a straight answer to that kind of question. I will not say no, nor can I give a firm yes, however. Make of it what you will."

Taloh stared at her in surprise for a long moment. "I... think I will. Thank you."

They were married in a small civil ceremony the next day.

Two months before...

Just as Drev was about to leave for his shift at the bar, he opened his front door to find Rala standing there with two women he didn't recognize. "Hello."

"I know this is awkward, but is she here or with Pettia?"

Drev nodded slowly. They'd begun to trust that she could be alone for a couple hours while he did abreviated shifts, and after she'd shown up at the bar that one time, she'd proved that she could navigate the streets on her own. "She's here. Why?"

"Because I want to take her for the day. Get her some essentials."

"You... want to take her shopping?"

"Yes."

It was odd, but he wasn't going to turn her down. "All right. Have her back before dinner."

Rala smiled and entered the house when he stepped aside to allow entry. "Will do, sir. Will do."

Drev closed the door and studied the other two women who hadn't followed Rala any further than the entryway. "And you are?" And why did the second one seem so familiar to him?

One of the women smiled and extended a hand, which he shook. "Dawn Ryan. You?"

"Drev Hallan." He glanced meaningfully at the auburn-haired one who hadn't spoken yet, but she was avoiding his gaze and staring at the floor. Odd...

Dawn's smile turned into a puzzled expression. "You must be Ailee's brother."

He frowned. "You didn't know that already?"

Fortunately for both of them, Rala returned right then with Taloh and Dawn didn't have to explain herself. Rala glanced between them and sighed. "Dawn, keep that up, and it won't be Elsie we end up teasing at reunions."

"Not my fault, Rain."

"If you say so, Gypsy."

The woman who hadn't spoken yet sighed and finally met Drev's gaze. "If the shopping district blows up, it'll be their fault." She stuck out a hand. "I'm Wanda. Pleased to meet you."

Drev stared at Wanda, at how alike her features were to Rala's husband. They even had the same color hair. "Do you... have a brother?"

At this, Taloh chuckled and drew his attention away from Wanda. "Forgive him. He's very inquisitive." She firmly shook Wanda's hand. "Pleased to meet you, too, Wanda. Shall we be going?"

Rala nodded. "Most assuredly. Have a good shift, Drev!"

Drev was left to stare after them for a couple minutes, wondering what was up with the indirectness of Wanda's answers.

He had a boring shift consisting of one too many off-duty storm troopers.

Weeks before that...

Ailee was looking over his shoulder with a frown as he put something together. "What is that?"

Darvis didn't even glance back at her as he put the cover on and screwed it down tightly. Smiling tightly, he placed it next to the other one. "Just something that could possibly get me killed."

Ailee picked up the thing that she was refusing in her mind to identify as a lightsaber hilt and studied it. He'd made two of these things. "You're not planning on carrying one around at all times, are you?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. If I do, it'll be concealed. Securely."

"The parts were in that odd package you got, weren't they?"

"Yes."

Ailee, carefully thumbing the activation node and holding it away from both of them, an amber blade of light extended from the hilt. She stared at it, then at Darvis. "Orange?"

"You like?"

"Yes." Turning it off, she handed it back to him. "How did you get an orange one?"

Darvis shrugged and put it back on the table. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"And the other?"

"A variation of white, almost silver."

"Really? Interesting."

He studied her for a moment, the expression of thoughtfulness on her face making him uneasy...

Couple days after that...

"What is this?" Taloh wondered as she held what appeared for all intents and purposes to be a metal stick with buttons on it. "And why are you giving it to me?"

Darvis sighed. "This is a lightsaber, and Drev mentioned you kept refusing to even try to use a blaster for target practice. It's a weapon."

She handed it back to him. "Show me?"

Darvis nodded, glanced at the drawn living room curtains, and thumbed it on. A silver-colored blade extended from the hilt, startling her. "Sorry."

Taloh stared at the shaft of hard light. "It's... a sword?"

"Yes."

"Made of light?"

"Yes."

"Do they all come in that color?"

He chuckled and thumbed it off. "I was sent two gems. The other was amber."

She gestured for it and he handed it back to her. "This button here turns it on?"

"Sure does."

Taloh was silent for a long, long moment as she stared first at it, then at him. "Why are you giving this to me? Don't you need it?"

"Don't need that one. I want you to have it."

She smiled. "Thank you, then. I... have nothing to give you."

"Just... make sure that Drev doesn't kill me when I ask for his blessing, Taloh. That'll be plenty."

"Ask for his..." She glanced at Ailee, standing in the doorway that led to her small kitchen. "Oh. Does he even know you're dating?"

Ailee chuckled. "He'd have to be blind and deaf to not know that something is going on. And really, Darvis. You don't have to ask my brother for his blessing if we're not on the planet when you finally ask me."

"Who dared whom to do what, and if that's the case, should I make you some real caf?"

Ailee rolled her eyes playfully at him and looked at Taloh. "Do you remember how to use one of those?"

"A sword? Sure. One of these things?" Taloh held up the lightsaber hilt. "First time for everything, yes?"

"Just know it'll cut through pretty much anything," Darvis told her seriously.

"Really?"

"Yes. So if you use it, it's no laughing matter."

"And using a broad sword is?"

Darvis blinked at her counter question, not having expected that point of view. "Good point."

Maybe a day or two after that...

Drev opened the door to find Darvis standing there, appearing to be really, really apprehensive about something. "Oh. Hi."

"Can I come in?"

Drev stepped aside and allowed him entry. "All right. Come in." Then he led the way to the living room, where they sat down and proceeded to stare at one another. "So..."

"I'm in love with your sister," Darvis told him without preamble, right as Taloh started to walk through the living room to the kitchen. She stopped and stared at him. "What?"

"How can I keep Drev from killing you if you don't warn me before hand?" she wondered.

Drev glanced at her, then stared at Darvis. "You are?"

"Yes."

"And your intentions?"

"Are to marry her."

"And you thought I would kill you for telling me this?"

Taloh laughed. "So much so that he warned me he'd be having this talk with you."

Drev nodded slowly, studying the man as he tried hard not to fidget. "She could do much worse."

"Then... you don't mind?"

"Of course not."

Darvis left the house in much better spirits than he'd arrived.

More than a year after that...

She smiled tiredly as Drev held their son for the first time, an expression of awe on his face.

"He needs a name," Drev murmurred, finally.

"Amos," Taloh told him softly.

He paused, studying their son for long moments before nodding in approval. "I like that. Amos."

And together, they watched their newborn son sleep.

fini... but not, exactly, the end...