Family Eh?

DISCLAIMER:I only own my OC's every other character is owned by Disney, Lucas and everyone else who has ever written anything for Star Wars. This is for entertainment only. My own and anyone who cares to read it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Nothing was said about the previous night, although Ana had been particularly affectionate when she finally woke. Rex was smiling, as he walked to Roba pen and was feeding them, when he heard it; it was the first time he had heard a speeder come anywhere near the property and it was slowing down. He didn't have his blaster to hand, so picked up the hay fork, testing its weight and balance in his right hand.

It would do, at a pinch.

He edged his way around the side of the house, keeping flat to the wall, until he saw the speeder; a dark brown affair with animal bars on the front and rear. It parked up, at the front entrance of the property, within the perimeter fence. He listened carefully but could only hear the mumbles of a conversation between Ana and an unknown male, and it didn't sound heated. It sounded normal. She knew him.

"Fek!"

He silently made his way into the house to listen more closely to the conversation. Ana was still standing at the front door; whoever it was she hadn't let them in yet.

Act normal. He mentally instructed her.

"I'm sorry Jed, where are my manners? Come on in, have a Caf. I've made cookies."

He could see the man now.

Well built, indeterminate age, weathered. Looked as if he had spent his life outdoors, looked as if he could take care of himself, especially with that blaster at his side.

Ana was brewing the Caf. Jed made himself at home, sitting in the old chair next to the fire grate.

My chair. Rex thought irrationally.

"Your Aunts are worried about you; you haven't been into town recently ...or called."

"I've been busy."

The man, Jed, stared at her, weighing up her reaction.

"I can see that. The repairs, and the improvements to your com mast. I didn't know you were that technically minded."

"It's amazing what you can find out on the Holonet nowadays."

"Hmm." He slurped his hot Caf and dunked a cookie in it.

Waste of a damn fine cookie.

"You can always ask me for help, you know? Me and the boys will gladly come over and help."

"Yeah, the boys were really helpful last time." She let out a bark of a laugh.

"We were all taken in by him." He sipped his Caf, it was scalding and bitter, tempered only by the cookie. "I believed you, eventually. And they did."

"Not until it was too late."

The Tooka mewled loudly, as it wove its way around Rex's legs demanding to be fussed.

"Not now Bonnie." He whispered, he had yet to see it catch a rodent.

The man was up, with his blaster pointed in Rex's direction.

Damn he was quick.

"Come out. I know you're there. The Tooka only makes that noise to a human."

He knew the tooka's habits.

Thanks Bonnie.

Rolling his shoulders first, he walked out from the corridor and stood in front of a man he had never seen before. He placed the hay fork upright and adopted a non aggressive stance, playing his cards close to his chest. The man looked and acted official.

"Jed, this is Nik, he's helping me out. He had an accident in his speeder and he's staying while he repairs it." Ana had intercepted his question.

"Hmmm." He wasn't buying it. "Where are you from then? You're not local."

"Here and there, never settled anywhere. I travel a lot." The truth. He waited for a reaction from the man but none came. "Nexu, caused me to crash and the repairs are taking longer than I thought." He rubbed his hand across his head. "Ana's been very kind, so the least I could do was help her out for a little while." He gave his most charming smile.

The man studied him, Rex felt as though he were being compared to a wanted poster.

"Where had you been before this and don't say around?"

"New Seelos." It was the biggest city on the planet and the capital. The only place you could probably get lost in.

"Big place…..any particular part."

"Spaceport and docks but the work ran out, so headed out to find some." Lots of people were doing that, he knew.

"Lots of folks affected by that."

Had he bought it?

"At least we haven't got the Empire to contend with around here yet." Jed continued.

"Never had any dealings with them so couldn't comment."

The man smiled.

"No, you probably haven't."

Does he know something?

Rex was standing at parade rest with a blank look on his face; Ana recognised that look.

"Look," he slowly moved his hands in front of him so they could be seen, "I'm just a simple man, trying to make my way in the Universe." He asserted, giving just the hint of a smile that went nowhere near his eyes.

"I'll bet." Muttered Jed.

"Nik!" Ana interrupted, "Could you finish the Roba please?"

"Sure Boss, will do." He turned, as Ana gave him a quizzical look, and returned to the rear of the property. He then moved around the side, where he could eavesdrop on the conversation once more.

"Jed, I am fine. He's just grateful for the time to repair his speeder and I'm grateful for his help."

The man was backing off now, reluctantly.

"You know where I am and get in touch with those Aunts of yours or I'll be back again checking." He heard the door open and headed towards the Roba pen, just in time to stand next to it as the visitor turned to check on him. He raised his hand in acknowledgement and watched the speeder set off down the track.

.

"Essie, she's ok. Not Dead, not ill and not had an accident."

Jed had done as they asked. He still wasn't sure about the man; there was something familiar about him. He winced at the noise that was coming out of his earpiece. Essie was hopping mad, so he hoped Ana contacted her sooner rather than later; he had once seen her throw a man out of the shop after he propositioned Tula. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Something else? What do you mean there must be something else?" It wasn't really up to him to tell them about the 'simple man' who was helping Ana out. There was more to that, he could tell from the way they looked at each other but it shouldn't be up to him to say anything.

Damn! He said he'd report everything he found.

"There's a man staying with her."

He winced again at the retort.

"What? No I did not arrest him. She says he's done nothing wrong. And I couldn't see anything, except it looks like he's been helping her with repairs."

He sighed, she could be hard work, Essie, especially with regard to her niece. He could understand why Ana didn't always want to see them, especially given she was a woman grown and not young either. Smothering came to mind.

"I told her to call you, Jed out." He finally finished the call; he could really do without this and pulled out one of the cookies Ana had pressed on him. They were really good just how he liked them.

.

The comlink chirped again; Ana knew who it was and she was deliberately delaying the inevitable but it was incessant now and if she didn't pick up soon, there would be a disgruntled aunt at her door demanding to know why she hadn't been to see them or contacted them as Jed had told her to.

She pressed the key. "Hi Essie."

"Don't 'Hi Essie me.' Where have you been? You were supposed to pick up some more supplies last week?"

"Busy."

"Busy. My shebs."

"Essie," she sighed.

"Don't Get all prissy on me now. We were worried and if you hadn't replied this time Tula would have sent me out to find you."

"Sorry."

There was a grunt from the other end of the comlink. "Accepted….you know we worry. You….out there….all alone."

"I know, but I prefer it that way."

"Do you?"

Ana ignored the question. "So?"

"We want you to come over and stay for Empire Day next week."

"I'll think about it"

"What's to think about?"

"The animals."

"They'll manage for a day; that man you have helping you, he could look after them. Then you can stay over, spend some time with us, yes?"

She just knew Jed would have told them. Sod him, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"That wouldn't be fair."

"Don't you trust him?"

"Yes. But he's only here because he crashed his speeder."

Essie hummed at the other end.

"There's more to this isn't there?" Once Essie got her teeth into anything, Ana struggled to assert herself without it turning into a full blown argument.

"I could bring him." The words were out of her mouth before she had thought it through. There was a short silence from the other end.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok, see you soon."

She switched off the comlink; Essie had closed the trap. Now she had to talk to Rex.

.

The middle aged woman shot up from the table and headed out of the door pulling her coat off the hook on the door as she opened it; "I need to see Ana." She shouted as she headed out.

"Why?" Came the lilting, accented voice in reply.

"There's something wrong."

"You sure."

"She sounded different and she has a man there and wants to bring him here, for Empire Day, to stay."

"You know what day it was yesterday?"

She stopped moving for a few seconds, as she thought over the question, "Aw. Shab! I forgot my own sisters birthday."

"Could that explain it?"

"Yeah, s'pose so."

"But she is coming on Empire Day, with this man?"

"Oh yeah, she said yes."

"Then leave her be. She's a grown woman and you can't mollycoddle her all her life."

"No cy'are." Her voice softened, as she said that. "you're right." She stopped and thought about something. "Jax will be in for his spare parts later today so someone needs to be here." She headed out of the door into the storage area, waving to her wife as she went.

.

Rex had been leaning on the door frame and overheard the last part of the conversation Ana was having on her comlink. "Problem?" He asked, a hint of concern behind his question.

"No, just my ever vigilant Aunts checking up on me. They want me to go to the Empire Day celebrations in town."

"Will you?"

"I'd better, or they'll never let me forget it." She paused, "I said you would come too...if you want to."

"Not really my sort of thing."

"Not mine either but it's family and there's not normally any Imperials there."

"Would you like me to come with you?"

"It's up to you but if you need some parts as well, we could get them, at the same time."

"I could." He rubbed his goatee before agreeing, "I'll come."

"Good." She nodded.

"Good." Rex nodded.

They both stood there, for several seconds, this was another step in their relationship...her relatives would be meeting him. "l need to get the bean field rotovated ready for the green compost crop." She finally said.

"Need any help?"

"No I'll be fine."

"I'll reattach that resistor then, and check if it boosts the signal any more."

They both moved to the door and she could see him looking out towards the desert; "I'm sure your brothers will be fine."

"You don't understand, they're damaged…..by the war."

Ana nodded ...and I suppose you aren't.

.

Rex wasn't really sure that talking about the War and his brothers, over the last few days had helped much, he still had some bad dreams. They'd gone to bed as normal, had slow, satisfying, sex; he felt totally relaxed before he fell asleep.

Then the dreams started.

Teth.

Ahsoka.

Losing all his men but five.

Ventress.

Being abandoned.

General Skywalker.

Ventress.

He could feel her hands inside his throat cutting off his air supply. He had to stop her; he clawed at his throat even though he knew it served no purpose. She was shaking him now, by the shoulders.

"Wake up, Wake up!"

He grabbed her by the arms and threw her across the room.

She had hair now.

She was in their room.

Blinking furiously he finally managed to open his eyes, focused and saw where he was.

"Ana? Ana?" He got to his feet, how she had gotten on the floor, he couldn't remember but she was lying prone and looked unconscious.

"Kriff!"

Ana was just starting to come around, as knelt he next to her, she flinched away from his touch, as he went to help her up from the floor.

He hated the way she looked at him at that moment, as he realised what he had done, and then as she came round fully her look softened and she held her hand out; he pulled her up to him.

"Ana, I'm sorry. I'll leave, I'm not fit to be near you. I'll find my brothers, somehow, repair my speeder and build a stronger comlink somewhere else."

Ana put her hand to his face and stroked his beard; she was always fascinated by how soft it was.

"Where would you go?"

Rex shrugged.

"Please don't leave; I'd miss you too much." Her voice was soft and low.

He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm as an answer.