CURTAIN

And we've reached the end! But in some cases the end is just the beginning of a lot more drama. Stay tuned for the very beginnings of what Thrawn considers more frightening than himself.

Sure it was a month late but their original celebration had been interrupted and now they had the entire family together, plus Ezra until his family came to pick him up . Even Katooni had gotten the afternoon off from the hospital though it didn't look like she was having much fun. She glared across the room at one of the newcomers.

Soniee looked down at the ring on her left hand. It was quite a rock. She smiled at Saw who was sitting next to her.

Steela wondered if she knew the trouble her sister-in-law to be had gone to to procure it from that vault on Mygeeto. Saw picked it out from a documentary about some tibanna baron. The old miser had more than enough and would never miss the little trinket. He had spent his entire career cheating the poor miners upon who's backs he had made his trillions of credits. He was exactly the sort of mark they would have gone after even if he didn't have that piece of jewelry that caught her brother's eye.

Soniee just seemed happy that the family had accepted her and Saw's engagement so readily and that she and her children had been welcomed into these festivities as if they were meant to be here.

Since it wasn't actually Resurrection Day they couldn't watch the parade live though Hutch did suggest that they watch a decades old recording of the one year that Onderon University actually won the all important bowl game. Mel and Pasc would need a proper education in which team they should be supporting now that they were officially going to be Onderonians.

Hero saved them all from that fate by bringing up the fact that watching family holos was also a tradition. Soniee had been surprised to learn that she was in a holo or two that the family had stashed in the box of precious memories. She was sure they probably meant from the time when she and Korkie had helped out the crew. She wasn't sure she could handle seeing Korkie in those images young and healthy and shortly before they had made their promises to each other forsaking all others.

"Why not this one?" Mina brought out a tape that looked ancient. She popped it into the player before anyone else could protest, not like they would be likely to disagree with Bon scary.

The image that fuzzed into view was the interior of the Unifar temple. Soniee remembered it from the mission she had gone on to impersonate a statue in the crypt. She recognized a younger version of Mina holding a tiny baby.

"Is that Dad?" Lux asked, fixated on the man standing next to her.

"Grandpa was handsome!" Kiara crooned.

"He was," Mina smiled. "He was the most handsome officer in the Iziz Militia."

Molly pointed at the other uniformed young gentleman standing next to John. "Then who was that?"

Saw and Grigori both spoke at once. "That's Dane Tandin." "My nephew."

"He was your godfather, Lux. And that…" a young woman came into the image. She was beaming at the baby and holding the hand of Lux's godfather and she was noticeably pregnant. "She was your godmother."

There was something else about the young woman into whose arms Mina placed her son as the baptism ceremony began and everyone turned to look at Soniee. The resemblance between the two of them was striking.

"That's Grandma Melaana! I was named after her! She wrote about Uncle Lux's baptism in her journal!" Mel who had previously been uninterested in the holo popped up to pay attention.

"My mother." Soniee said softly her hand went unconsciously to her stomach and then she realized and pointed at the image. "I guess that means I was there too, at your baptism, Lux."

"I had no idea," Lux laughed. "We might have grown up together, like cousins."

"We might have been closer than that. My mother dated your father before she met Dane. The Bonteris and the Rashes were all for it."

"That's right!" he slapped his forehead at the memory. "Your mother was a Rash and she was my godmother and her brother was Sierra's godfather!" He had heard the stories while he was growing up but he had never made the connection.

"Sierra and Alex will need to be thinking about godparents for their little one," Ahsoka mused.

Steela glanced at the chrono. She wasn't impatient but Sierra and Alex were supposed to be here any minute and the gender reveal of that baby was something all of them were looking forward to.

Ahsoka walked by behind her chair and patted her shoulder. "They'll be here soon. You know how Angelica is. She probably kept them later after Pam finished the scan."

"Aw," Steela shot back at her. "You probably already sensed the results anyway."

Ahsoka winked. "I'll never tell."

Just then the doorbell chimed and Sierra and Alex followed, alternately grinning at each other and the roll of ultrasound holos in Alex's hand. They didn't bother taking off coats or putting down bags and instead faced the expectant crowd who were all leaning forward in their seats in anticipation. Hutch hit the button on the holo player to pause the vid so that they could all give the couple their undivided attention.

With one last look to her husband Sierra spilled the beans: "It's a boy."

"And he's perfect." Kallus gushed, holding out a holo for their inspection. "Healthy and growing along right on schedule. We … we're going to have a son!"

Cheers and applause filled the room as the happy couple kissed.

"Congratulations on your little guy," Lux said. "Now you'll know how I felt trying to keep Tav from tripping everyone in the hallways on the Piece of Crap."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know, since we're all back in the game we might need to be mobile again. So -."

"You think we're all going to cram back into Piece of Crap 2?" Sierra shook her head. "Nope, not happening. Not only will we not fit, but Alex and I talked about this. We're keeping the ship as our own space."

"Neither of us thought we would have a traditional family," Kallus explained. "And now that we do, well, we'd be remiss to return to our previous states."

"Speaking of returning we're heading back there now. Just wanted to drop by and let you know about the ultrasound."

"Aren't you going to stay for the party?" Steela asked.

"Sorry but we have plans of our own." Sierra gave Alex a wicked grin. "I'd like to spend some time alone with my genius husband who just solved a murder."

Before they could make a break for the door Soniee spoke up. It was her first family holiday as well as her children's and she did want them to have the whole experience. "We could watch another family holo now that everyone is together."

Lux snickered into his drink, "We never did finish the koi pond."

Alex was practically gone already. "Enjoy your party!" He said, shut the door behind them, and they took off.

The entirety of the con men stared in disbelief as the couple ran off. Sierra and Alex's spectacle was so distracting no one noticed that another of their group had slipped away some time before.

…

"Are you cold?" Molly asked as Ezra pulled his jacket tighter around himself. "We can move so we're not standing under the vent."

"If we move we'll lose our place in line," he said. Truth be told fear of losing their spot was at least thirty percent of the reason he was still standing here. The other seventy was a combination of adrenaline, endorphins, and the joy he felt blasting off Molly in the force. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. "You can keep me warm."

Molly happily obliged. "I wonder why they keep it so cold in here. It can't be that hot under those judge's robes."

"It's to make sure no one ever wants to come in here," the guy behind them grumbled. "Never mind they make it a massive headache just to get my kriffing address changed."

Ouch. Ezra winced in sympathy. "Sorry, dude."

"What are you two here for?" The guy asked. "It doesn't look like an address change."

Molly blushed and readjusted her cream-colored shawl. "We're going to see the justice of the peace."

"Like for…" he took in their comfortable-but-still-special attire and grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, that's great! Congratulations!"

Ezra beamed. The idea had sounded crazy when Molly first pitched it, but now it was really growing on him. As long as Hera didn't find out. Hera could never find out.

"You don't think we're too young?" he asked. He could almost hear Kanan and Hera giving their opinions on the matter.

The guy shook his head. "No way. I got married about your age and it was the best decision I've ever made." He keyed open his comlink to show them a holo of himself and a woman in a wedding dress. She looked vaguely familiar to Ezra but he couldn't quite place her. "I say, if you've found the right person then time doesn't matter."

"Yes, exactly!" Molly said. "We don't know how much time we'll get with the person we love so we should seize the day."

"As long as you've thought about it, go ahead. I wish you all the best."

"Thanks." Ezra hit on an idea. "Would you be our witness? We didn't have anyone to come with us and it would be cooler if it was you instead of the bailiff."

"As long as I can be the deejay too." He scrolled through his comlink. "Tell me what songs you want."

Molly gave him a list and he'd just finished queueing up the music when the clerk's office door opened. "Bridger and St. James?"

"That's us." Molly smiled nervously and squeezed her husband-to-be's hand before they made their way to the office, their new friend following with a noticeable limp.

"You're one of the younger couples I've had in here," the clerk said as he made his way to the desk.

But the comment didn't throw either of the couple. "Yes. Yes we are," Ezra said and got into position for the ceremony to begin.

…

"Weren't expecting Sierra and Alex to rush out like they did?" Ahsoka snickered when her family returned home in the dead of night.

"They've never done that before," Lux said in disbelief. "Sierra loves Resurrection Day. I can't believe she skipped out on it."

"Remember you've already had two other parties. I wouldn't blame her for being Resurrection Day-ed out."

"Me neither," said the voice in the middle of their pitch-black living room.

The Bonteris didn't have time to startle before the living room light flashed on and illuminated a petite woman sitting on the sofa with fury flashing in her dark eyes and the forgery Amulet of Galia dangling from her fingers.

Lux sighed. Here we go. "Hi, Dalla."

"Lux Bonteri." The fence rose from the sofa and walked across the floor like a nexu stalking its prey. "I thought I said you couldn't use my artifacts."

"It was kind of a last-minute situation, really not what it looks like."

"Really? Because it looks like you ignored me and stole this with absolutely no regard for how it might affect me or my people. Did you even bother checking the display schedule?"

Oh kriff. Lux tried to play it off. "You clearly didn't have any trouble getting it back. It'll be in the display case in the morning with no one the wiser."

Dalla's lips pulled back in an almost feral snarl. "And in order to retrieve it I had to send Selkie, who I've told your crew multiple times has no business being around the Imperial remnant, into a party with Grand Admiral Thrawn. Do you have any idea the danger you put her in, and for what? So you could pick up some duchess? What do you possibly plan to get out of that arrangement?"

"Soniee is a valued part of our crew. She's a help to Hutch, and Saw -." As soon as he said it he knew it was a mistake.

Dalla turned bright red. "You could have killed my lieutenant for Saw's latest squeeze?!"

Lux took a step back. "She seemed to handle herself pretty well."

"She was terrified Lux. You have no idea what that girl has…" Dalla's rage smoldered in silence for a full standard minute. Then she snatched the pad of flimsi they used to make grocery lists off the conservator and tore off a page, narrating as she scrawled a list of her own. "Brent Cogon, Iden Versio, Sloan Murphy, Lana Blackwell."

Lux recognized the last two names, but the first two were completely foreign. "What's that?"

Dalla thrust the list against his chest. "Those are the people you're going to comm if Selkie turns up dead."

She stepped closer, forcing him out of the kitchen and into the living room. "You will tell them what happened to her and you will tell them why you felt the need to create this situation. I invite you to explain to her grieving friends and her twenty-five-year-old husband why you thought this job was more important than her life."

Lux folded the flimsi in his hand but knew better than to respond.

"You owe us big, Bonteri. Me and Selkie both. And if you ever do anything like that again, you can get a new fence. Good luck finding one willing to step on my toes."

With that she stalked past him and out the door, letting it swing behind her.

Ahsoka caught the door with the Force before it could slam. "Shot in the dark, Thrawn knows about that."

"He told Kallus some things were more frightening than him." Lux blew a lock of hair out of his eyes as he looked down at the list. "In my opinion an angry Dalla fits that bill."

"Alienate our fence and cut off our resources all while keeping his hands clean." Ahsoka nodded. "It fits. The question is, why now? This isn't the first time you and Dalla have gotten into it."

"Something changed. Alex joined the crew, Sierra got pregnant, Saw decided he's actually the marrying type," he snarked and rubbed his temples. "I'll focus on building that bridge again. Like you said, it's not the first time."

"It needs to be the last time. With enemies like this we can't afford to lose any friends."

…

Well that was an eventful address change. Brent smiled the whole way home. Who knew when you went to the courthouse that you would wind up being part of a wedding? He wished all the best for Ezra and Molly. The way they looked at each other reminded him of his own wedding and the way his wife lit up the ceremony like the brightest sun.

His wife, who was on a dangerous job involving the Onderon Con Men and the Imperial remnant. He sent up a quick prayer for her safety as he reached his apartment complex, balancing the bag of groceries in his hand as he juggled his keys.

Only to have his prayer answered as his smiling wife opened the door for him.

"You're home!" Brent dropped the groceries and kissed her.

She eagerly kissed him back. "Traffic was light and I thought I'd surprise you."

"You did!" He laughed in relief. "Oh gods honey I was so worried. I still don't know why Dalla couldn't have sent someone else."

"There's no one else to send." She waved him inside and shut the door behind him before going into the sensitive details: "We're not exactly flush for people now that the war's over and if we didn't get the amulet back NRBI would be all over us. It was scary, but it went well. I don't think that duchess even noticed when I took it."

"Of course she didn't. You're Selkie, you scooped it up with your magic powers." He sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"

She shrugged with a smirk that dimpled the twin beauty marks on her cheek. "Yeah, that was our dinner. Pizza's on the way."

That brought on another wave of laughter. "I thought selkies couldn't burn things."

"Brent Cogon! The Imperial Security Bureau wasn't exactly a cooking school." She playfully smacked him and Brent caught her wrist to pull her close again.

"Good thing we left all that." He ran his free hand through her hair, fascinated by the way the light caught the red strands.

"Very good thing." Her gaze softened to gentle affection and then something else entirely. "You know we have some time before the pizza gets here."

She didn't have to tell him twice. Brent swept her into his arms.

"I love you, Hannah Swain. Even if you burn our food."