-Sacrifice-

News breaks before they've even gotten to bed that Jagged Fel, former Imperial Head of State, is now Emperor Fel, and half the broadcasts demand to know where his wife, famed Jedi Master Jaina Solo Fel, is in all of this. Surely the daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo would never be an empress!

She's honestly surprised that news of her divorce stayed under wraps this long. She watches the holonews wearily for a while, then flips it off and crashes into bed.

Jaina forgets to turn off her commlink, and it begins going off incessantly. She stares at it, too muddled to move, and then the door opens, Kyp lets himself in. She's somehow not surprised he has the keycode to her quarters.

Without a word, he picks it up, turns it off, and shoves it in his pocket. Then he leaves. When she wakes in the morning, she finds him asleep on her sofa.

Han and Leia drop by soon after, while Jaina is taking a long, hot sonic shower. When Kyp answers the door, Han merely raises a brow. Leia is a little more direct.

"You're here early," she says.

Kyp scratches a hand through still-mostly-dark curls. "I've been keeping an eye on her communicator and pondering damage control."

They've already discussed what to do about Emperor Fel, and decided, for the moment, to do nothing. But Jaina needs to make a statement, and Leia is there to help her come up with one. Allana is in class at this hour, and won't join them until later.

Jaina emerges from the refresher. Kyp has gone, though his commlink and datapad still lay on her dining table. Han is in her kitchen area, making breakfast. Leia sits on the sofa, drafting a statement on her own datapad.

Standing in bare feet, a tunic and leggings, Jaina asks, "Is this really happening? Or am I just having a particularly strange bad dream?"

Han has made scrambled eggs, with cheese made from blue milk, and he brings a platter to the table. He sets out four plates. Leia doesn't comment on that, and when Kyp comes in, showered and in fresh robes, not a word is said about it.

"I've got a basic statement," Leia tells her daughter. "It says that you and Jag separated earlier this year, that you remain dedicated to the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance, and that you have, at this time, no involvement in, knowledge of, or comment on these events."

Jaina pokes her eggs with a fork. "That sounds good to me. Can I just… Never leave here and hide for the rest of my life? I don't want reporters following me around again."

Kyp, who has been quiet until now, says, "I can fry their cameras or something, from the inside."

Jaina grins briefly. "That would be fun. But only as a last resort."

When they're finished eating, Kyp clears the table. Han leans back in his chair and asks, "How long you two been seeing each other?"

Jaina pauses with her mug of caf almost to her mouth. Her eyes dart to Kyp, who has set the dishes down and is leaning with his back to the sink, hands braced on the counter, looking back at her. His face says it's up to her.

"Uh. What makes you ask?" she inquires, and Kyp makes a face at her obvious stall.

Han gives her his best "don't try that with me, I'm not an idiot" look.

Jaina doesn't take her eyes off Kyp as she asks, "Officially or unofficially?"

Han makes a noise in the back of his throat that's hard to describe. "Officially, Jaina. You two have been 'unofficial' for as long as Ben's been alive."

It's an echo of her conversation with Kyp on the day she told him she was divorced as she says, "Officially, yesterday."

Leia looks between them, sighs, and takes a sip of her caf. Han looks smug.

Kyp relaxes and turns back to the dishes.

"We weren't going to say anything for a bit," Jaina admits. "Wait to let the … drama blow over. I don't want anyone thinking Kyp had anything to do with my leaving Jag."

"Which I definitely didn't," he says. "Part of me wishes I had."

"More specifically, I don't want Jag thinking Kyp had a hand in it, because he just might call for his head," Jaina continues. "He pretended he wasn't serious about getting Daala to extradite Kyp to Bastion for Carida, but . . . He's always been jealous. I don't know what he'd do if . . ."

Kyp comes back to the table and when he does, he shifts his chair a little closer to her. He takes her hand, and Leia watches him do it. She is clearly trying to decide if this development is good or bad. Then again, in recent years her only objection has been their age difference, and really, at this point, Kyp is a better choice for her daughter than a man who just declared himself emperor.

Jaina looks up at him, suddenly no longer guilty that he broke Thelia Brandt's heart for her. She can't imagine what it would be like if Kyp had married the woman, if she left Jag and found that this man she has loved in one way or another since the age of eighteen couldn't be here.

The thought turns her stomach as much as learning of Jag's new role.

Leia drags her eyes from their clasped hands and says, "I know that you don't want to hide your relationship, especially after the lengths you had to go to for a while with Jag, but I think that keeping it private for now would be best. You don't want the attention, and this would be . . . what's that phrase Ackbar used, Han, about bait?"

"Chumming the waters," her husband says. "Tossing bloody meat into the water to attract sharks."

Jaina searches Kyp's face. "I'm not ashamed," she assures him. "But I don't want being with you to cause problems. We don't need the press stalking us, especially right now, and we also don't need the new emperor getting it into his head that he needs to come after you."

"I'm not thrilled, but I agree," he says.

"So, for now, only the four of us know," Jaina sighs.

"And Luke," Han says.

Kyp raises a brow.

"As much as you think so, Kyp, Luke ain't an idiot."

"I don't think he's an idiot. I just don't agree with him on a few things. Whether we have the same views or not, I have nothing but respect for Master Skywalker."

Jaina stands, suddenly needing to move, and she trails her fingers over Kyp's shoulders as she goes by. It's the most natural thing in the universe, and she wonders why it took her so long to see it.

"They're going to blame this on the Jedi," she says. "Everything is always our fault."

Kyp reaches out, grabs her wrist. He draws her back. "Not if he doesn't find out until he's . . . calmed down."

She looks at their hands, her small one in his large one. "I don't want to keep it secret. I'm so kriffing tired of that. But we have to, and it's not fair."

"Just for a little while, Goddess," he says. "I'm okay with that."

His gaze is steady on hers, full of the love neither of them have declared. This isn't how she wanted things to start between them. But for the moment, they have no choice.