Hello everyone! Well this is incredibly embarrassing… I've managed to upload the wrong chapter… Sorry about that! So THIS is the correct chapter… wow. I'm beginning to slowly lose it. Let's laugh at the author for a moment to ease the tension… that's better.

Don't own it…

Chapter XLIII.

Ella peered up with a forlorn look in her eyes, begging. Lumara shook her head, "Not a chance, you silly cat. And- oh!" Ella trotted half a step in front of her, nearly tripping her up. One of the boxes she had stacked perilously in her arms went flying, heading for a long fall and a short smash. She just managed to shove the others against her hip with one arm, and reach out the other hand to the box, catching it with the Force and setting it down gently on the ground with a sigh.

She glanced around and everyone instantly looked in another direction. Lumara sighed again. Great. Everyone was staring. She gave up and lowered the other boxes to the ground shakily too. She ended up on her knees, gathering them into another pile. They contained some of the supplies they were bringing on the mission, and she'd been sent to collect them with the assumption that she wouldn't drop and break them. 'Lumara Kinstike: dogsbody and donkey at your service.'

"You are such a silly cat, you know that?" she muttered to Ella, and then pointed to her severely, "No! Get your nose out of there!" she batted the lion away, much to the feline's annoyance. Lumara looked up as a presence fell over her; it was an orange twi'lek- pilot by the looks of him.

"Need a hand?" he offered sheepishly.

"Thanks," she smiled as he helped her with the scattered packets and boxes, stacking them up. She looked up again as a familiar presence approached. "Hello," she called, grinning.

Indy broke out into smile and hurried over, "Hi. Hello there," she nodded to the pilot, who looked a little like a gizka caught in the headlights. "Oh- it's you from the squadron," her smile widened.

"Uh… yeah. Sorry about that," he mumbled, looking down and quickly finishing the pile.

"No bother. I know friends can be idiots, can't they," she grinned wickedly at Lumara, who just shook her head in amusement.

"Um... yeah. I guess I'd better be going, you know, drills and all that, and- bye!" he got up and hurried off.

"Thanks again," Lumara called after him, laughing a little.

Indy giggled, "Isn't he sweet?"

"I guess so," Lumara picked up the slightly less precarious pile, giving Ella a warning glare as she did so.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot; your tastes lie elsewhere, don't they?" a mischievous glint surfaced in her eyes.

"I'm sorry?" she raised an eyebrow as they started down the corridor slowly.

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm getting at."

Lumara shook her head, "I don't think I do."

"I was talking to Dariinj last night," she prompted.

"Were you?" she sighed tiredly. 'Oh dear.'

"Yes. Hang on, come in here!" she pulled Lumara, pile trembling perilously, into a nearby room, thankfully empty.

"Indy!" she cried, barely steadying her load as Ella slipped in after them, mewing.

"Tell me everything!" she grinned.

"Listen, I-"

"Lumara," she pouted, hands on hips, "it's bad enough that you keep me out of the loop all this time, but now I know you won't admit it!" She leant forward, whispering directly in the Padawan's face. "You and Dariinj are in a relationship."

How had she found out? Lumara screwed her eyes tight shut, "I don't think it's ever been said in so many words."

"So what? Oh, I just knew you liked him! I'm serious: tell me everything!"

"Everything? That's a remarkably indistinct request."

"Oh gods, you sound like him too!" she laughed.

Lumara sighed, leaning against the wall in resignation. If she was caught out, she might as well take advantage of it. All this time the secret had been chewing her up inside. "I don't know what's going on," she shrugged truthfully. "All I know is I like him. A lot. Whenever you say relationship… I can't even see him when I want to, and it drives me crazy! But it's worth it…" She frowned, "How did you find out?"

"They call me the twi'lek detective! That almost rhymes…" She shrugged, "I knew both of you had suddenly changed, it just took me a while to connect the two. Once I even considered that it might be connected, the rest slid into place- not to mention the way both of you kept disappearing." She sniggered, "I followed Dariinj to the first boundary last night- it was shockingly easy –and then saw him come back." Her eyes gleamed, "What were you two doing out there anyway? It must be pretty quiet so far away from the base… I mean, you could get away with anything without people finding out…"

"Indy!" her mouth dropped open, aghast.

"Oh, don't act so innocent," she giggled. "You can't tell me it hasn't crossed your mind…"

"Moving swiftly on!"

Indy grinned, "Alright…" She chewed her lip for a second, frowning a little, "You must really like him to risk so much."

"I do," she looked down, blushing. The Padawan hitched up her pile a little, "I wouldn't do something like this if I wasn't sure. I- I think all along I've known what I wanted to do."

"Well it's obvious he's crazy about you," the twi'lek smiled reassuringly.

Lumara suddenly looked up, "How crazy?"

"Really crazy! It's obvious, sweetie." Indy rolled her eyes. Dariinj had been sickening for something for months. Now she knew what- or who –it was, all the daydreaming and funny moods made perfect sense.

"It's just… Oh…" she set down the boxes and packets hurriedly, wringing her hands. "I don't know what to do, Indy!" her face was creased with worry, she chewed her lip.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she frowned.

Lumara licked her lips nervously, she repeated, "I don't know what to do. I think I love him and I don't know what to do."

"Oh…" Indy's eyes widened. "Oh." She smiled hopefully, "Well that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Can we see why this might be a slight problem?" Lumara hissed furiously.

"Yes… But it could be worse."

"How, exactly, could it be worse?" Now she'd managed to say it, the panic that had been distantly gnawing at her for weeks on end was suddenly surfacing and taking hold.

Indy paused for a moment, "Um…"

"Exactly!" snapped Lumara, not quite meaning to be so sharp with her friend.

"Well… Look at it this way: could it be any better?"

"Huh?"

"Well, being in love is a wondrous thing! It's exhilarating, it's joyous and dramatic and fantastic and stupendous!"

"Indy, have you ever been in love?"

"Uh… I don't think so. But that's not the point! I just know that it is, you know?"

"Not really."

Indy sighed, "You've got to be a little less pessimistic."

"I know…" she groaned. Lumara stared forlornly at Ella, "You've got it easy, you know that?" she muttered. She looked back to Indy, her off-turquoise face sympathetic, if rather excited. "I don't… I just want to be able to think through this. I've known since before I even told him I liked him." She started to scratch Ella behind the ears distractedly. "I can't imagine feeling any other way. But this is so complicated!" She let out a frustrated moan. "I just want to be with him without all of this… mess. I'm going on this stupid mission now too, and I'm not going to see him for more than a week. I'm going to die!" she suddenly went from near tears to almost laughing at herself, "I sound so desperate," she muttered.

Indy stood back at looked at her friend for a moment, "Oh, Lumara. Well… if you're this serious are you going to do anything about it?"

Another emotion flickered in Lumara's eyes. "I… ideas have crossed my mind. But they're all crazy!" She sighed, "I'll figure it out, I guess. We'll figure it out together."

"That's the spirit!"

The Padawan smiled, "Thanks. It's… it's really been good being able to talk to you. It helped."

Indy caught her in a warm hug, "Any time."

"I'm really sorry we didn't tell you," she murmured.

"I understand, I guess," she smiled. She'd quickly gotten over being left out of the secret. She was almost glad, saying as even now she was scared to think too loudly around Justo or the others on the off-hand chance they picked something up. She stood back, grinning. "It's no problem. Of course, I'll be expecting your express counsel when I finally pick up flyboy back there," she indicated her head.

Lumara laughed, "Don't worry, you'll get it. Good luck with that- you may have your work cut out trying to get a straight sentence out of him!"

"I know, but if I can get one I'll be very happy. I'll see you around."

"Bye," she smiled, heading out with Ella trailing directly after her.

She managed to get into the complex without another spillage, but one was long overdue. She could barely see past the great pile of supplies. She managed to open the door to the little room with her elbow, "Could I get a hand here?" she muttered.

Justo jumped up, laughing, "Are you sure you've got enough there, Lulu?"

"Just take these, would you?" she rolled her eyes irritably. He lifted the top few off and set them on the table, and she leaned over and slid the others off gently.

"Is that all of them?" Master Finah inquired.

"I think so, that's all they gave me, anyway."

"Alright. We were wondering what was taking you so long," he chuckled.

"Indeed. Is there anything else you need me to do?" Lumara had been running errands all morning, being sent all over the base to speak to people and collect things.

"No, I think that's it for now. You'd better go and help your master with the younglings' lunch."

"Ok. Bye."

"Thank you, bye."

"Bye, Lulu!"

She sighed and headed for the crèche, grabbing the escaped Gin by the hand on her way in. "Don't give me an excuse to tell you off today," she muttered to him, closing the door behind her.

Gin smiled sweetly, "I won't. I'm sorry, Mara." He hopped off to play with the others.

Lumara rolled her eyes. If he thought he was going to pull the cute, innocent little boy look on her, he was kidding himself. The only reason he was off the hook was she was tired of telling him off. At least perhaps he'd have the sense to behave for the rest of the day.

Knight Onih greeted her with a smile, "You're back from running errands then?"

"Yeah, finally. At least we've got all our supplies sorted now," she replied breezily. "He didn't say when he thought we'd be going, though."

"Oh, well he said possibly even as early as tomorrow. He spoke to Mothma and she was keen to get it all done; we've been fairly prepared for this for a while now. We're all ready to go, anyway, so there's not much to be done."

She started, "Tomorrow?" Well that was unexpected, soon. "Oh, well that's good." 'No!' "We'd be leaving quite early in the morning?"

"Yes, I think so. If we leave quite early then we'll arrive for the next morning, ready to start up the mountain." The Knight began to tidy a little around the playroom. It was an omnipresent tidy; as soon as they finished one side the other needed attention. They weren't looking forward to the colossal mess that they were sure to be greeted with after they returned.

Lumara nodded, "Ok." She busied herself with the younglings and tidying, dire thoughts spinning about her head. She wouldn't get to see Dariinj before they went. Her fists clenched unbidden as she wordlessly worked at a particularly messy corner, and she had to force herself to relax. Now wasn't the time to get worked up about what she could and couldn't do. She'd learned quickly that a cool head was essential if she wanted to continue her life like this.

The day went on agonisingly slowly. Lumara spent a lot of it continuing to get things ready with Justo while the masters made the last arrangements for the mission. She had little chance of getting a free ten minutes to go and do what she wanted, and she wasn't even sent on another trek across the base to get more supplies. Soon she was lying in bed on her own again.

&

It was a barely organised rush that got them out of the crèche and into the hanger. The younglings weren't happy to see them go, and after Lumara had pasted Tara off her leg for the third time, they made a speedy exit and headed for the ship.

The other two were waiting by the ship while some last checks were carried out. Master Finah smiled, "Good morning. Are we all ready to go?"

"Yes, I think so," Knight Onih nodded; peering round the side of the ship, "hmm…" she started round to look at the workings of the ship.

Justo shrugged, "Looks like we're good hands if I crash."

"Oh, that's very comforting," Lumara rolled her eyes.

He grinned, "It could be worse. Oh, where's Ella? I doubt Infer's going to be attempting to feed her."

"I left her with Indy. She likes her," she replied absently.

"What, Indy likes Ella or Ella likes Indy?"

"Both." Lumara began to tune out ever so slightly, trying to catch something on the edges of her senses. There was something… ah. Aha. She halted the true smile sweeping across her face, remembering where she was. "Right, well we'd better get going," she suddenly smiled.

"Yeah, I'll have another look round the ship," Justo ran up the gangplank, trying to look busy. He was determined to impress the others with his piloting skills.

Lumara drifted around the ship to the back engines, where her master was talking quietly with one of the mechanics, and another was carefully glancing through a datapad. The Rebellion was meticulous in their paperwork, Lumara had been amused to find. At the edge of the hangar, a figure was lurking amongst the crates and supplies. She was careful to keep her approach casual, "Oh, hello!"

"Hello there," Dariinj smiled. "I was just passing by. I did not know you were going on your mission just yet."

"Yeah, it was quite short notice. I only found out yesterday that it'd be so soon," she nodded, coming to stand a careful distance from him in current circumstances.

Dariinj was going to say more, but at that moment Knight Onih came over.

Lumara was quick to jump in, "Master, this is Dariinj Subria; he was the technician who helped me with the lightsabers."

"Pleased to finally meet you, Master Jedi," he bowed slightly.

"And you. Your help in constructing the sabers is greatly appreciated. Without it we'd doubtful be here now, about to complete the job."

"It was no trouble at all. It was very interesting work."

'Wow.' Lumara could barely believe that they were meeting, and talking quite civilly. It was slightly surreal. Then the alarm bells started ringing. She looked to the ship, and Justo was coming down the gangplank. He started walking over.

"Yeah, at least now we'll be able to make use of it all," she smiled. 'Kriff, Kriff, Kriff…' She started desperately trying to communicate through her eyes that he should get a move on, without her master noticing, no less.

"Yes, well I will not keep you from your mission…"

Too late. He trailed off politely as Justo approached. Knight Onih smiled, "Oh, this is Dariinj; he was helping Lumara with the lightsabers. And this is Justo."

Dariinj inclined his head ever so politely, "Good morning."

"Good morning. I believe we've met before," Justo's tone was carefully measured, friendly even.

'Oh, don't blow this now…' Lumara pleaded silently. If he would just keep his stupid thoughts to himself; stay calm, then she had a good chance.

"Probably," nodded Dariinj. "Well, as I was saying, I had better leave you to your mission. Good luck."

"Thanks, bye," Lumara's smile was ever so slightly clipped.

"Goodbye."

He left after another polite inclination of the head, and they headed onto the ship without further conversation.

More checks, more strapping in of supplies and a final call by Master Finah, "Food: check. Clothing: check." They were standing assembled idly in the cabin. "Fuel: check. Lightsabers: check. Equipment: check. Ship," he looked down to the floor he was standing on, "check. Is that us? Oh, and Padawans," he smiled to Lumara and Justo, "check. Good job, ok."

Justo smiled slightly, heading for the cockpit with Knight Onih. The other two sat down in the cabin, Lumara sure to strap herself in tightly, taking into consideration their pilot. She doubted he was concentrating solely on the ship at the moment.

She sighed and closed her eyes, centring herself quietly. Once she felt calm, she opened her eyes and stared blankly into space for a while, allowing the pretence of light meditation to overtake her features. She felt the ship shudder slightly, lift off, and they soared out of the base. She felt a deeply uncomfortable pang as they continued to accelerate up through the atmosphere, and while she knew it was likely all in her head, it was still painful.

'Missing you already…' And they zoomed out of the atmosphere and into space.

Well, someone ain't happy…

Thanks for reading, and all the lovely favourites and reviews I've had over the week! More reviews are always very welcome… =P

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