A/N: Marsk- "Oh and I wish we could get a Leyla/Jag moment. In earlier stories they had this great father/daughter connection that I miss in this story."

To this, I shall just say- *wink*

Future ADA- "I thought you were going to throw a curveball at the last minute and let her die or something horrible."

Really? I mean, this story was a good bit darker than the others, but… really? LOL, I love my Leyla character, I'm not quite ready to kill her off yet. :P

Part XX

It was all a hazy blur, the last twenty-four hours- a mix of confused pain and vague terror, more like vivid nightmares than clear memories and, for a brief and ridiculous moment, Leyla hoped that none of it had happened. But the lingering pains in her arm and leg, a stiffness in her shoulders, they were pretty strong indications that those blurry impressions of memories had, in fact, happened.

But she was warm and comfortable, and cocooned in a sense of safety and encouragement as she opened her eyes and noted that it was her father whose hand was stroking her hair, his warm smile carrying a hint of concern that was greatly overshadowed by the vast measure of relief. "Hey," he murmured.

Her first attempt at responding came out as little more than a raspy sigh. Clearing her throat- a bit painfully- she managed a small, "hi." He grabbed a cup and raised a straw to her lips. She drank greedily until it was almost empty and then sank heavily back against the pillows.

"How do you feel?"

"Better," she responded automatically, though that hardly took much. "How long have I been…?"

"It's early," he murmured. "Almost oh-six-hundred. We got you back around eleven-hundred yesterday."

A half-groan, half-sigh escaped her lips. "I don't even remember how they got me…"

He smiled sadly and sat on the edge of her bed. "Coma gas, sweetie. In your sleep. You never even knew. There was someone inside, someone who must have spliced an entry-code to your room, and they forged an authorization for a shuttle- it took them less than twenty minutes from when they landed until they left again."

Drawing a shaky breath, she absorbed that- and then froze, remembering a rather important fact- someone else had been in her room that night…

"He's fine," Kyp said quietly. "And as soon as he came to, he realized what had happened, and he went to Colonel Lassiter and they immediately woke your mother."

Glancing away, she went slightly pink. "Dad, I…"

"Sh," he murmured. "It'll hold. Someday soon, you can have that particular conversation with your mother. For now, I'll be content to know that your corporal is terrified of me and- well, I'll grudgingly admit that he was very helpful to us yesterday." He squeezed her hand tightly a moment. "Do you remember much of what happened?"

Pressing her eyes closed, she breathed deeply for a moment. Remember? Parts of it were a confused mess in her mind; other parts, she recalled entirely too vividly. "I… remember bits and pieces, when they… let me wake up…" She passed a shaky hand over her eyes. "I remember when he… he tried to tell me that it was your fault, I think Vulcor was nearby by then, he was trying to help me wake up. And then he was there, and Ashik and Iella…"

She trailed away and her hands clenched involuntarily. "It's alright now," Kyp spoke quietly.

"What did they give me? It made me feel so… disconnected, so confused…"

He sighed. "The emdees ran an analysis; it was a mix of two types of spice- glitteryll, which kept you confused, it's a memory-suppressant, and a sedative called avabush. The amount they gave you, it would have been lethal by the end of the day."

"He always wanted me dead."

"Yes," Kyp closed his eyes. "He wanted to make me commit a horrible crime in the hopes that he'd spare you, and then make me live with the knowledge that I'd failed to save you and still killed countless people in the process."

"He really lost it, after he was sent to prison, didn't he?"

Kyp nodded, and then turned when the door opened and Jaina slipped in, still blinking the sleep from her eyes. "You're awake," she smiled softly, sitting on the end of the bed.

"For now," Leyla smiled tightly. "I'm still a little…" she shrugged tiredly.

"That's fine; the emdees said you'd probably be weak and a little shaky today, just take your time and rest," Jaina encouraged her. "Tomorrow or the day after, we'll get you out of here."

"Ossus?"

Kyp glanced down at her. "Yes; I hope that's alright with you. We made the decision last night."

"Of course." She looked down and worried her hands in her lap. "Um… is Vulcor outside?" She'd thought that she sensed his presence approaching with Jaina.

Her mother nodded. "I brought him down with me; he wouldn't leave your side for hours yesterday, until I finally made him get some sleep."

"Can… can I talk to him for a minute? Alone?"

The surprised glance exchanged between Jaina and Kyp was fast and discreet- and entirely noticeable to their teenage daughter. "Sure," they stood. "Take as much time as you need." A slight twinkle came to Jaina's eye. "I think your friend Deren was hoping to pay you a visit this morning too…"

But Leyla barely seemed to register the tease, and was quiet and distracted while the two left and murmured voices could be heard in the hall. She looked up though as the tall Jedi came through the door, but flushed a bit when he trained his own gaze on her, and looked quickly away again.

"How are you?" he asked quietly.

"Good," she murmured faintly. "I- thank you, for everything."

He tilted his head slightly, trying to catch her eyes. "You're welcome; though I couldn't have done it without the help from Jag's family, especially Mrs. Antilles- and Ashik, of course." A somber silence settled over them, and Vulcor frowned lightly and took up a seat by the bed, studying her carefully. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't tell them."

His hesitation and sudden shift in demeanor were telling. "I- wasn't sure if you'd even remember what happened in that much detail."

Her voice was soft, but had a hard edge, almost cold. "I shot him; I've never killed anyone before, not even in defense, and I shot him. He'd failed, and he knew it, and he put his blaster down and I shot him, and I aimed to kill. How could I forget that?"

"Leyla," he spoke quietly, "you were drugged and confused. The man had kidnapped you- for the second time- he'd tortured you, threatened to kill you, threatened your father…"

"He gave up; he was done."

"Yes, he did," Vulcor told her evenly, "and had you been in a better state of mind, I don't think you'd have done what you did. But the fact is, you were barely conscious and high, you exerted every ounce of strength you had to get Ashik's blaster, and you had it pointed at a man who kept you drugged and chained up for hours, who'd had you shot twice to make a point. I certainly can't condemn you for that."

She shrugged a bit listlessly and kept her gaze downwards. Maybe he wouldn't condemn her for it- maybe none of them would, Vulcor, her parents, her aunt and uncle… but excuses aside, as she continued to dwell on the topic long after her mother and father left to let her get some more sleep, she couldn't help but feel that somewhere in that situation had been a test- and that she'd failed it utterly.

X-X-X-X

Around midday, Gennevi Lassiter was sitting in Gavin Darklighter's office and handing over her leave paperwork- to his credit, only a faint quirking of a single brow showed his surprise when she said she was spending it on Ossus- when the call come through that Jagged Fel had just arrived and was docking in the hangar bay nearest the med center where Leyla was still a patient. The admiral was about to call out to his aide to meet and escort Jag to Leyla's room, but Lassiter stopped him.

"I was going to go see how she's doing today anyway," she murmured, "I can stop by and collect Fel on the way."

He just stared at her a moment before chuckling and shrugging. "You must be crazy, getting yourself involved in that family, Gennevi- but go ahead."

With only a half-hearted glare and eye-roll, she quickly finished signing her forms and headed for the proper hangar. By the time she got there, he'd already finished powering down his ship, and she caught him just before he stepped through into the main corridor. "Excuse me," she stopped in front of him. "You are Jagged Fel, yes?"

He nodded sharply. "Yes."

She turned and beckoned him along. "My name is Gennevi Lassiter, I'm to take you to your daughter."

"I appreciate that, colonel," he noted her rank insignia and unit patches with mild interest. "You are a squadron commander?"

A brief flash of chagrin shot through her. "I… was commander of the squadron with whom your daughter has been training. Due to recent events I shall be… facing an assignment change, as it were."

Under any other circumstances, his curiosity would probably have been greater. Nevertheless, as they walked quickly through relatively quiet and empty corridors, he couldn't refrain from probing further. "I'd say I'm sorry to hear that, but I don't know if I should be- should I?"

She grimaced, but shot him a wry look over her shoulder. "Only as much as you can pity a person who suffers from her own stupidity." He nodded but did not further inquire. "Are you… up to speed on Leyla's condition?"

"I was told that she is recovering well."

This Fel character didn't really mince words, though she wasn't sure if his terseness was due to his general nature or simply his concern over Leyla's well-being. "Yes, sir. They expect to release her from the infirmary tonight or early tomorrow." They stepped through into the med bay itself and wound around a couple of turns to reach the private rooms; stopping in front of Leyla's, Lassiter paused unsurely. "I was going to see how she's doing, but if you'd rather I came back later…?"

His expression softened slightly as he regarded her. "No need, colonel; I'm sure Leyla appreciates your concern, as do the rest of us." He opened the door and stepped through, taking a moment to glance around the room before crossing over to the bed to where his stepdaughter was sleeping.

Lassiter followed slowly and turned to close the door behind her. When she turned back, she noted that they were not, in fact, alone as she'd first thought. Instead, Kyp and Jaina were still present, but seemed to be taking advantage of Leyla's sleep to catch up on their own- which they were doing on the bench against the wall by the bed, Kyp sitting upright with his legs stretched out, Jaina with her legs drawn up on the bench and leaning sideways against the Jedi Master, his arm slung around her shoulder.

And for a quick instant, the colonel groaned inwardly with the realization that Darklighter was right, that this was really not a family situation into which she suddenly wanted to insert herself, that once he'd checked on Leyla, Fel was going to turn and start having it out with the man who had an arm around his wife, sleeping, that everything Kyp had said about Jag understanding their relationship was complete and utter nonsense…

But she was here, and she couldn't very well run off without at least first seeing how Leyla was doing, so she tentatively crossed to the bed as Jag pressed a quick kiss to the sleeping girl's forehead. As she glanced quickly at the monitor with the condition-update status, she watched furtively from the corner of her eye as the younger man went quietly to where the two Jedi were on the bench and leaned down by the older man's ear.

"Kyp… Kyp… wake up. Get off my wife." Lassiter cringed and studiously turned to glance at Leyla's face which was much less pallid than it had been the day prior.

With a light groan, Kyp woke and blinked in surprise. "Whoa- when did you get here, Jag?"

"Just now; think I could borrow that?"

Lassiter turned and saw that he was smiling wryly and gesturing towards Jaina's dozing form. "Yeah," Kyp yawned and eased his arm over the top of her head before standing, allowing Jag to slide smoothly into his place and pull Jaina back against him instead. "She was getting a bit heavy anyway..." a foot lashed out and struck him just above the knee. "Ow. You were supposed to be asleep."

She ignored him and instead twisted around to face her husband. "Hey, you. Luke said you were on your way. I hated not being able to give you the news when we got her back."

"I knew that, one way or another, I needed to be here."

Kyp joined Lassiter by the bed, but turned and glanced over his shoulder. "Where's the munchkin?"

"With Luke and Mara. I…" he glanced down at Jaina sadly. "I hated leaving him, but… there was nothing I could do to help alleviate the pain he was feeling."

"I know," she murmured back. "Sorry for not being there."

That actually drew a gentle laugh. "No you aren't. You'd have been beside yourself if this had happened while you were on Ossus."

"And," Kyp broke in wryly, "if you hadn't been here, me, Corran, Kyle, Octa, and Doctor Seyah could very well be dead right now." He smiled warmly at Lassiter by his side and put a comforting hand to her shoulder. "Same goes for you. Now- I need food and I need sleep, and I think Jaina and Jag have things handled down here." He offered her his arm. "Care to join me?"

A brow arched gracefully. "For the food or the sleep?"

Jaina tried- and failed- to suppress a snort of laughter. Kyp went a remarkable shade of red, for a Jedi Master, shot a glare at Jaina, and sighed. "I'm doomed, aren't I? And to answer your question, I meant the food." He led her towards the door and, as it closed behind them, leaned down close to her ear and murmured:

"But the sleep is optional."

X-X-X-X

A/N: Future ADA, that was a pretty naughty thing of Kyp to say… I think he needs a spa- - - slap. Yes. A 'slap.'