A/N: this chapter possibly has one of my favorite scenes to write EVER. :-D

Part XX

Her heart lurched as the ship dropped out of hyperspace, the brief fear that they were mistaken, that Pellaeon's coordinates had been wrong, that any number of things had gone wrong… all those thoughts flitted through her mind in the second it took to revert to real space after Han pushed up on the hyperdrive levers.

But the Second Fleet was there alright, and Jaina let out a quiet sigh of relief, a breath she had been holding for the almost three day journey. Jag reached over and squeezed her hand, and she smiled broadly while Leia raised the flagship on the comm.

A familiar voice boomed out over the speaker. "Millennium Falcon, have you come to pick up your cargo?"

"You betcha, General," Han replied and grinned. "Where do you want us?"

"Ah- just a second, my newly promoted second-in-command will give you further instructions…"

The passengers aboard the Falcon frowned, until a softer, hesitant voice spoke up, clearly reading something off of a screen while she spoke. "Maintain a point eight entry… vic…"

"Vector," Wedge could be heard muttering.

"Vector," she corrected loudly. "And a homing…"

"Beacon."

"A homing beacon… oh, Uncle Wedge, you read it!" Han and Leia laughed, Jag grinned, and Jaina felt tears forming in her eyes yet again.

She stood and leaned over the speaker. "Leyla, honey, it's mommy- we'll see you really soon, alright?"

"Okay!" the bright voice replied. "And daddy and grandma and grandpa are there too?"

"That's right," Han grinned. "So you better resign your newly instated commission, because we're going to be too busy celebrating."

A soft giggle could be heard before Wedge finished relaying their landing instructions. In another fifteen minutes, they were setting down in a small hangar- unbeknownst to them yet, the same hangar where Kyp and Leyla had landed three nights prior. As the Falcon finished its landing and power-down sequences, Jaina stood shifting her weight, fidgeting as she waited for the hangar pressure to restabilize so they could release the pressure seals and lower the hatch. Completely distracted, she started as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist. Smiling, she twisted around and draped her own arms around Jag's neck, leaning up on tip-toes to kiss him.

"Just not in front of the kid, alright?" Han muttered as he pushed past them. Leia sighed and rolled her eyes, following him aft.

Jaina and Jag broke apart as a loud beeping noise signaled the resumed safety of the hangar. He took her hand and pulled her to the ramp, which Han already had descending by the time they got there. The blast doors were still opening as they hurried to the bottom of the ramp, but Wedge and Leyla were already striding through into the hangar, her hand tucked safely in his.

Her little eyes looked up, brightened… and then she was running across the durasteel floor, and Jaina and Jag hurried forward to meet her. "Mommy! Daddy!"

Jag swung her up into his arms and Jaina reached out to stroke her hair before leaning in and hugging her while Jag balanced the seven-year-old in the air. "Oh, sweetie, we've missed you so much," Jaina murmured, holding tight. "I'm so glad to have you back."

"Me too," the girl said seriously, and Jaina pulled back to study the face that she hadn't seen in too long.

Leyla's eyes were bright, her smile broad, and her overall demeanor was one of overjoyed happiness. Nevertheless, there was something different… a lingering air of worry perhaps, and a sensation of being slightly hardened in the ways of the world that would have broken Jaina's heart, had she not been so happy just to see her.

"How are you, sweetie?" Han reached out and squeezed her hand, and Leyla beamed up and him and Leia.

"Good," she said somberly, "but I missed you all." Jag pulled the girl close to him and kissed her cheek. She giggled. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, "your beard tickles!"

Wedge finally caught up and grinned. "Hm, Colonel Fel- unshaven, out of uniform… tsk tsk."

Jaina threw herself into Wedge's arms, hugging him tightly. "Thank you for keeping her safe, Wedge," she murmured, dropping the usual formalities given the circumstances.

"Yeah well," Wedge muttered, "it got a lot easier once your brother's list of names turned up some shady characters here on my own ship." He reached out and shook Han's hand and hugged Leia quickly before turning to lead them out of the cold hangar.

"Anyone… surprising?" Leia asked.

Wedge grimaced. "You could say that- my aide, Lieutenant Drixl."

"No!" Leia gasped. "Did he, er… go quietly?"

The general rolled his eyes as he keyed open the door to his cabin, just down a short corridor from the hangar. "Not in the least. Went for me and when that didn't work, tried to off himself… we got him though, he's in holding, along with the others." He motioned for everyone to sit. Jaina and Jag took up a small sofa, and Jaina pulled Leyla into her own lap, simply reveling in the feeling of seeing and holding her once more. "Hopefully, the ship is secured now."

"Wedge," Jaina reluctantly looked up away from Leyla's grinning face, "where's Kyp?" His expression of surprise caught her off-guard. "I mean… wasn't he the one who…?"

Leyla nodded and smiled. "Kyp found me," she declared happily, but then her face fell slightly. "But he's gone again." Something in her voice gave Jaina pause… a reservation, or hesitancy…

"Yes," Wedge said slowly. "You knew then, what he was doing?"

"I…" Jaina hesitated, looking back up. "We knew that he was pursuing his own leads; but he told us not to contact him again until we had her back. The last any of us saw him was the day after the attack, when Jag gave him a datacard of relevant information from the embassy, mostly."

Wedge sat back and considered her. "Well you realize that he's gotten himself into more than a little trouble in the meantime?"

"Yeah," Jag winced. "We were hoping that he could ah… shed some light on that when we got here. You said he's gone though?"

Leyla spoke up quietly. "He went to go make sure that the bad people can't take me away again," her voice trembled, and Jaina hugged her tighter.

"I'm so sorry, Leyla," Jaina murmured, voice breaking. "I tried so hard to stop them…"

"I know," the girl replied. "And I knew you'd find me."

Jag pulled the two of them sideways and Jaina leaned against him, Jag's arms wrapped around them both. For a long time, even as Wedge explained everything that had happened since Kyp had turned up with Leyla, and he and Han and Leia talked softly, the three of them just sat like that, a family once more.

Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene.

Alurin uncharacteristically burst into Croyel's office without knocking. The Moff looked up, shot him a glance, and went back to reading his reports. "I thought you were due to stay on Generis for another week," he commented idly.

"We have a problem," Alurin snapped, harried. "A big problem- a Jedi problem."

Croyel quirked a brow and looked up again. "Solos?"

"Skywalkers. And another dozen of them raiding your government on Generis."

Now he certainly had Croyel's attention. "Oh?" he asked softly. "That is problematic." He cursed. "Those fools; our puppets among the Moffs must have been careless with their forces, only that could have led them to me." He sighed heavily. "What sort of force?"

"Just the Jedi- fourteen snubfighters. But Pellaeon is only a short jump away, still orbiting Bastion."

Croyel's lip curled disdainfully. "Alert the armada to standby to launch at my order; we have no choice." He stood. "I must confer with Lord Wrynn, but I suspect we'll be forced to abandon future repairs and launch the strike on Coruscant quickly, while most of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force is tied up elsewhere. I'm going down," he strode out into the hallway, Alurin behind him. "In the meantime, get me the locations of the other three fleets- oh," he turned, "and find out if the Second Fleet has moved with the girl yet, it might be worth our while to take it out while half of the Solo family is in one spot."

He keyed in the access code and quickly descended to the hidden bunker. His footsteps echoed in the quiet corridor as he swiftly walked towards the antechamber where Wrynn usually was during the day, either working with his apprentices, or perusing the data sources Croyel delivered to him daily, when he was on-planet.

"My lord," he ignored the two apprentices in front of Wrynn, "we have a problem- Skywalker and a squadron of Jedi are raiding Generis as we speak."

Wrynn stared at him for a moment. "Is there anything on Generis leading to us here?" he asked coolly.

"Of- of course not," Croyel frowned. "But…"

"My, it certainly seems that your time as a Moff is over then, doesn't it?"

The two glared at each other. "Yes," Croyel said stiffly. "It does. Nevertheless, we need to assume now that the Jedi will be able to find us before the month is out; we need to launch now."

Wrynn considered this. "Hm," he murmured. "I suppose you may be right."

"Alurin is looking into the locations of the First, Third, and Fifth Fleets. I… wonder if we should attack the Second Fleet while it still is undergoing repairs; even with our own damages, we'd surely outgun it, and it would be one less force behind our backs as we move on Coruscant."

"And by now," Wrynn speculated, "the Fels and the Solos have reunited with their lost cub. They are surely too dangerous to be kept alive any longer; we should have issued orders to kill Solo-Fel during the raid. No matter," he sniffed. "Xela!" he called.

The tall, blonde woman approached slowly. "My lord?" she purred.

"Return to the armada; assess the speed of repairs, how compromised the firepower is… and when you are satisfied, give the launch order. I'll tell you where shortly."

She smiled cruelly. "Yes, my lord. I can be ready to depart within the hour."

"See that you are."

As she turned and glided from the room, Croyel's datapad beeped, receiving a message. He pulled it from his pocket and read it three times before his stomach dropped and his face went white. "My… my lord," he stammered. "I fear we are too late."

"What is it?" Wrynn snapped.

"It seems that Alurin has had no success raising Drixl, nor anyone else in the Second; the same in the First and Fourth. His last communication from Drixl was just over two days ago though, of course, he could have been taken any time between then and now…"

Wrynn's eyes were terrifying and stony. "No," he murmured. "No, we must assume the worst."

"The worst?"

"The worst, my dear Moff," Wrynn said dangerously, "that Drixl's uncovered treachery has put aside doubts against Durron." He thought long and hard. "Even without his shuttle's data, he can still find us here easily; but the same is not true of the armada.

"Moff Croyel, for too long have I cowered in this bunker, sending others forth to do my work while I fought to restore the glory of a lost empire. The time is come for us to unveil ourselves. Our network served us well, and those who died rather than allow themselves to be taken alive, they shall be honored; the rest shall die slowly and painfully when we take over the government. And," his cruel smile deepened, "Jacen Solo shall feel the brunt of my wrath."

Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene. Scene.

Han and Leia retired to an unoccupied cabin just down the corridor from Wedge's. He offered Jaina and Jag the use of the extra room in his own cabin where Leyla had slept the past couple of nights, and they gladly accepted.

They sat in the sitting room with him for a last nightcap after the long and emotional day. Leyla sat between her parents on the couch, and periodically she would look up at one of them, open her mouth to say something, glance at Wedge, and then close her mouth and change her mind. After the third or fourth time this happened, Jag set his glass down and looked down at her seriously.

"Yes?"

She flushed. Jag looked bemusedly up at Jaina, who shrugged; she thought she'd sensed earlier that Leyla was holding something back and just assumed that it was something about her captivity that would come out in due course, when she was ready.

Finally, Leyla spoke softly. "I want to ask you something," she mumbled. "But I'm afraid you'll get mad at me."

Jaina chuckled. "Leyla, believe me, there's nothing you can ask that will make me mad- not right now, anyway. I'm too happy to have you back with me." She tickled the girl lightly and she laughed but pulled away and became serious once more immediately. "But why would you think we'd be mad?"

"Because…" she looked down, "I think it's supposed to be a secret, and Uncle Wedge doesn't like Kyp very much…"

Wedge looked torn between amusement and guilt. "Hey," he said, "he found you, so I guess he's alright in my book at the moment."

Leyla seemed to consider that a moment before nodding and setting her face in firm resolve…

"Is Kyp my real father?"

A ringing silence followed the question- and then Wedge, Jaina, and Jag all spoke at once.

"What?" Wedge demanded, eyes flashing. "Did he tell you that?"

"Oh, sweetie…" Jaina sighed and closed her eyes.

"Yes, he is." Three pairs of eyes swiveled to Jag. "What?" he snapped at Jaina, "I'm not going to lie to her, she clearly already suspects, regardless of how she knows. And if Kyp told her, it was his choice to do so, just like it was his choice five years ago to not do so."

Wedge stared uncomprehendingly at all three of them from across the room. "Jag? Jaina?" he asked. But before either could answer, Leyla's small voice sounded from between them.

"Kyp didn't tell me," she admitted. "But I… I wanted to know how to remember things better," she looked up at Jaina, eyes pleading, "so I asked Wrynn to teach me. I know I shouldn't have, but I wanted to make sure that they were bad by trying to remember who took me away from you." Tears welled up in her eyes. "But when I started to sense Kyp looking for me, I remembered being little, and waiting for him at my birthday…" she sniffled. "And when I was bored, I'd try to remember more, when he showed up, and then the next day, and then… I accidentally heard you talking to him about… not wanting me to know…"

Wedge was still staring, dumbfounded. He remembered talking to Zekk…

It tore her up inside, what he did, and she eventually ran away for it.

I thought she ran away because she was pregnant…

"Wedge?" he jolted back to the present and saw his nephew peering at him. "Do you think we could have a few minutes…" he gestured back at the girl who was now crying all-out and Jaina who was looking a little shell-shocked and blind-sided.

"Oh, yes. Of course." He backed slowly into his own bedroom and shut the door.

Jag turned back to his wife and daughter- adopted daughter, he thought for the first time, ruefully. "Leyla," he knelt in front of her and took her hand in his. "It's alright if you're upset. We were going to tell you, when you were older and would understand it a little better. But now that you know, I want to explain it to you, okay?" She sniffed and nodded, wiping at the wet streaks on her face. "I love you very much, you're everything to me- but it is true that, biologically, you aren't my daughter." He glanced anxiously up at Jaina. "Do you… understand what I mean by that?"

Leyla hiccoughed. "I… think. Does that mean that mommy and Kyp were married once too?"

Jaina would have grinned if it weren't so horribly difficult and unplanned. "Something like that, sweetie. We weren't married, but we were… dating," she cringed at the inaccurate term for their fling. "Sort of like Uncle Jacen and Danni used to."

"Okay," she seemed to understand that at least.

"Well, Kyp was really angry at what the Yuuzhan Vong were doing to the galaxy… and you know how anger can sometimes cause Jedi to do bad things?"

She nodded again, eyes-wide and tears forgotten. "Did Kyp… go to the dark side?" she whispered.

"Not quite," Jaina sighed. "But he did some bad things and…" she fought for words to explain without really explaining. "Some of those things upset me, and I didn't think I could trust Kyp anymore. And I was worried that, if he knew that I was going to have you, that maybe he'd do more bad things that would hurt you too. So I left and, before you were born, your daddy and I fell in love." Leyla gave them a watery smile. "And the very same day you were born, you know what he did? He asked me to marry him."

"And from the instant I saw you," Jag said softly, "I knew you'd always be my little girl."

Leyla looked unsure. "So… Kyp turned good again?"

"He did," Jaina told her. "But we thought it would be too dangerous if we told everyone about you while the war was still going on. So we waited until it was over, and then took you to meet the Jedi and our families, and they were so surprised," she tickled her again and Leyla laughed. "But first, we took you to meet Kyp, and he was surprised too, but he loved you almost immediately, and the two of you bonded really quickly. That's why you were so eager to see him when you turned two a few months later."

Her little face was furrowed in consternation, eyes deep and thoughtful. "Then why didn't Kyp want me to know?"

Jag spoke haltingly, afraid of hurting her feelings. "He… was afraid that it would confuse you while you were still so young. Kyp wanted to make sure that you were happy and safe, and I think he thought that he could ensure that better distantly, if you grew up knowing him as a friend, but we waited until you were older to tell you the rest."

"Oh," she was pensive. "Is that why he was able to find me? Because Wrynn didn't know he was my father?"

"Exactly," Jaina said, relieved that she'd made the jump herself. "If the bad people had known, Kyp never would have been able to get as close to you as he did, they would have been watching him like they were for the rest of us."

"And…" she hesitated. "Can I tell him that I know now? That he doesn't have to pretend anymore?"

Jaina and Jag exchanged quick looks. "If you want to," Jag said evenly. "I think it would make Kyp very happy, he cares about you very much. But if you still aren't sure about the idea, I think he'd understand."

"Oh. Okay." Leyla smiled. "I guess I'll think about it." She yawned.

Jag shot a look over her head. "Why don't you get her ready for bed," he suggested quietly. "I'll… talk to my uncle."

"Better you than me," Jaina teased, standing up and scooping up the tired girl in her arms. She leaned over to give Jag a kiss. "Don't be too long."

When he walked into the bedroom fifteen minutes later, Jag smiled softly. Jaina had her arm around Leyla who was snuggled close against her side. Both were already in a deep sleep. Dimming the light and getting ready for bed, Jag slid in on the other side, forming a protective barrier around their newly recovered daughter.

End Part XX