Miriah walked down to the hangar in the light rain, her arms full of warm clothes for Devin and Corso. She knew that even though he'd packed gear, he'd forget the warm things. He always does, she thought, smiling to herself. She'd only slept a handful of hours, and she could feel the slight nausea she always got when she went without sleep. He'd noticed she was not quite herself, and was being more attentive than even usual, already having taken Devin down to the ship and gotten him settled. She saw Felix then, putting their things aboard and went to talk to him.
"Are you guys going to be ok in the crew area?" They had drawn straws with Maura and Aric, and lost, for the one private room other than the captain's quarters.
"We'll be fine there, Miriah, although I have no idea why Aric gave us earplugs when we got here," he replied, taking the items she'd been carrying and going up the ramp. She followed him into the ship and went to the bridge, where Corso had already put the flight plan and preflight list on her chair. She smiled, he was being so sweet this morning. She could hear her sisters and the kids all in the crew areas, and hit the switches for the preflight engines, noting the tone of the purr she heard from them and deeming them ready to go. She sat heavily, so tired already, and just stared at the instrument readings. She felt Mags before she saw her, her cool aura flowing over the ship and her passengers.
"Hey Mags, " Miriah called out, and her sister put her head in the doorway, sensing Miraih's fatigue even before she'd seen her. "I know, you can tell I'm tired. I am. Didn't sleep much, and not the fun way, either."
"Let me help," Mags said, and her brilliant light covered them both, instantly infusing Miriah with calm energy, settling her nausea and refreshing her. "That's only a temporary fix, you need rest, but that will last you until tonight." She smiled at her youngest sister, patted her cheek and left for the lounge, where everyone had gathered.
Corso joined her on the bridge, and kissed her on the head as he passed behind her. She alerted her passengers that they were ready, and felt the zing of excitement she always felt when the main engines fired up. She got them to orbit and into the hyperlane, and engaged the hyperdrive engines. She stood to go join the rest of her family, but was hit with a wave of dizziness. Corso saw, of course, and pulled a chocolate bar from a stash on the bridge and handed it to her, gently pushing her back to sit. She gave him a weak smile and said, "Thanks, sugar. You always know just what I need."
"Well, you didn't eat this morning , and you didn't sleep last night. It wasn't too hard to guess you'd need something," he smiled at her. "We only have to wait now, so let's go join the others when you feel steady enough." She nodded at him, already feeling the rush of sugar and goodness from the high quality chocolate. They made their way to the lounge, and heard Devin chattering to the twins, and Michi cooing. They took the far couch and Corso made her stretch out with her head on his thigh, removing her pony tail and massaging her scalp, guaranteed to relax her.
"We'll be there in about eighteen hours, guys, " Miriah said, her eyes closed and little hums of pleasure escaping her lips. Mags could feel the emotions she was feeling, and had started to blush, just then remembering that Miriah should be blocked pretty much all the time. Felix, who was holding her hand, looked at her with raised eyebrows, feeling the sensual undercurrent in Mags' force aura. Magdalane pointed to her sister, who was enjoying Corso's hands in her hair, and grinned.
Devin walked over to his parents and put his head on Miriah's shoulder, and she lifted him up to lie with her. The little boy was asleep in minutes, and Miriah opened her silver eyes to look at Corso, who was being affected by her voice as well as the feel of the silken black hair on his fingers. Devin had his own handful of her hair, and she had to grin. "Like father, like son," she told him, and he chuckled.
"He does it because it's soft and smells like you. I do it because it relaxes you," he said, thinking, it also makes me crazy for you, especially when you make sounds like that. She could see in his eyes the reaction he was having to her, and could feel her own desire rising. The holo chime redirected her attention, and she saw Aric unwrap himself from around Maura to answer it, since he was closer.
The wavering image of General Garza appeared, and she was beaming. Unusual, Aric thought, to see her visibly showing pleasure in something. "I wanted to congratulate your group, Jorgan. The three missions we had going have all completed and they were all very successful. You are in route here, then?"
"We are," Aric replied, "we should be there tomorrow." Garza nodded, and they agreed to meet in her office late tomorrow afternoon, and signed off. Aric turned to the group. "I wasn't sure if you all wanted to stay on the ship or get rooms, so I reserved us a suite if we want it. The spaceport is a little far away from the main part of the city." He looked at Corso when he said this, and Corso looked at Miriah. She wasn't sure she wanted to be away from the security of her ship, but she reluctantly nodded, it made more sense to be closer to the taxiways. Corso helped her sit up, and took the sleeping boy from her to put in his bed. The twins had fallen asleep as well, and for the moment, the ship was quiet, the hum of her engines making the whole group drowsy.
Mags broke the silence. "I love this ship," she said. "It's so comfortable, there's such a feeling of peace here." Miriah smiled at her, thinking of all the time she'd spent here, and nodded.
"This is as much home as the ranch is, at least for me," Miriah replied.
"For me as well," Corso said. "This is the place for a lot of firsts for me." He blushed, then continued, "I mean, the first time I traveled on a freighter, the first time I kissed the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, the first time I really fell in love. We got married here, made Devin here. It's a great ship."
Mags nodded, "I feel those positive things. There's a lot of love here, and trust. From your crew as well as between you two." Aric had made caffa and passed around mugs, giving Miriah her hot chocolate.
"I love the water showers. We had only the sonic ones on our ship, it was just too small for the tanks, " he said, sitting next to Maura again. They chatted for a while and eventually Miriah and Maura went to cook, leaving the others there. They fed kids, bathed them, put them to bed, then had dinner. After dinner, Miriah went to the bridge to check on their progress. She was standing there, looking out at the streaks of light that were stars rushing past, when Corso walked up behind her. He put his arms around her, and she leaned back on him.
"When I think about the first time I kissed you, right here, I feel so lucky that I get to do that every day now," he grinned at her. She turned and they kissed, the feelings now much stronger than then, and when he smiled at her, and she told him to take her to bed, there was no hesitation in either of them. She slept after, in his arms, in their familiar bed on their ship, and she was content.
Aric and Maura talked a bit about the coming few days, worried that Miriah still wasn't healed enough to be here, but knowing she had to be. Maura knew she was still underweight, and still having occasional nightmares about Alderaan, and Mags had confirmed she was still recovering from the episode with the Sith lord. Aric hated that they'd had to come here after he'd promised Spitfire they would stay put, but they all knew that it was necessary. He sighed and pulled Maura to him, "I wish I could just fix her, you know? I hate that she's had to go through so much, and I feel guilty about asking her to travel to Coruscant when I know she hates this planet anyway."
"I love that you care about her enough to feel guilty," Maura told him, and when he started to protest, said, "I know, she's like your little sister too, I didn't mean it like that." She kissed his cheek, and before she could pull away he growled and turned, pinning her with his weight, and kissed her.
"Enough talking, gorgeous," he told her. She agreed.
Magdalane was still feeling the sensual undertones coming from Miriah, and though faint, they could hear her as well. Felix felt a little embarrassed and now understood Aric's earplug joke earlier, but he couldn't deny the strength of emotions that he was feeling through Mags. "I can't push her out entirely, love, the proximity is too close, but I do know how to counter her." Mags smiled at him, a wicked gleam in her eye, and he grinned back at her, feeling the surge of desire in their contact.
"Her emotions are so strong, how do you manage to block them?" he asked her, after they'd spent some time imitating the other couples aboard.
"I can't completely, especially when we're this close, but at home it's easier because of the distance. I just kind of set a filter for her there." Magdalane shrugged, "I figure on board I'll just ride it out." She saw Felix grin, and had to laugh.
After they'd docked with the orbital station, they made their way to the Senate Plaza. They'd taken a suite of rooms in a nearby building, and as they walked from the taxi, Miriah felt herself moving slower and slower. She felt like someone was watching her, but then she always felt that on Coruscant. This was different, somehow. She looked around but could see nothing unusual. I'm losing my mind again, Miriah thought, and clutched Devin closer to her. Corso, who was several steps ahead of her, turned to see what was keeping her, and rushed to her at the look on her face. "What, kitten? Something wrong?"
"No, I suppose not, I just get the creeps here," she tried to smile at him, handing their son to him. Devin didn't want his dad, and started to fuss, reaching for Miriah, who took him back, struggling under his weight. Corso put his arm around her, and they caught up to the rest of the group, Miriah still watching, still vigilant about who she passed. When they'd reached their suite, they were greeted by food everywhere, with notes from the Senate and Republic army officers, thanking them for the mission plans. There was even chocolate for Miriah, her weakness well known. Mags used the force to scan the suite, and nodded her approval. They all went to their rooms to organize and unpack, and still Miriah had the vague feeling of being watched.
Biron waited across the way, having watched them enter the building. How could she have married that ignorant man? And had his child? She's still as beautiful as ever, he thought, remembering the way the reflected light off the snow on Hoth made her eyes almost translucent silver. She could feel me, he mused, she knew I was here, I saw her looking around. He felt pleased by that, and when he could see her no more, he left for his small quarters here, a sad smile on his face.
