It's funny how I find myself

In love with you

If I could buy my reasoning

I'd pay to lose

One half won't do

And I've asked myself

How much do you

Commit yourself

Oh, It's my life

Don't you forget

"Do you want us to take you home?" That was Nathon's voice, following his girlfriend's urging to say something.

"No," Genna shook her head. "I can't go back there. They know where I live. He stayed with me last night."

They caught her tone of incredulity and shared a silent conversation over her head. Then the blonde took charge.

"We'll take you upstairs to our room."

"But Viv, we were just about to check out," Nathon reminded her.

"Then we'll pay the fee for the later checkout time. This is obviously more important. Come on."

Genna didn't really process the ride up in the lift or her chair being guided down the grand hallway of one of the hotel's upper floors. When they reached the room, a couple of members of the cleaning staff had already pulled up a cart to the entrance and were carrying out the used linens.

"I am sorry." Viv pushed past them with all the grace of a queen. "We will be requiring this room for a little longer."

She grabbed a couple of clean hand towels off the top of the cart. "I will make sure to leave an extra tip for any inconvenience." Then she gestured for the cleaners to leave and for Nate to push Genna the rest of the way into the room.

The door was shut with the 'do not disturb' sign attached to the handle and then Viv disappeared into the fresher with the towels while Nate sat down on the unmade, king-size bed across from Genna's hoverchair.

When the blonde reemerged she had the two towels, one still dry, the other dampened with cool water, and handed them to Genna who nodded and wiped her tear-stained face.

"First thing's first: introductions. I'm Vivian. It's very nice to meet you, Genna, although not under these circumstances, of course. I am aware that you and Nathon had a history together but that was in the past."

She not so discreetly waved her left hand, upon which she wore a sizable diamond ring. "What matters presently is why in the galaxy we found you alone in the lobby of a hotel crying about someone killing your brother." With that last statement she had switched gears from full business mode to that of compassionate concern.

She sat next to Nathon on the edge of the bed and reached out to squeeze Genna's hand with a benignant smile.

"Thank you," Genna choked out. She wasn't exactly sure what she was thankful for at this point but at least she wasn't in that party room any longer and she could begin to sort through her thoughts.

"Huh?" Nathon was nudged in the ribs by his fiancée's elbow. "Oh, so that guy is not your boyfriend? Because last night you said he was and he stayed over…"

"Well, I don't know, I mean I thought… and then hearing that he might have…"

Vivian rolled her eyes almost audibly. She had taken out her comm unit and was starting to key something into it. Then she looked seriously at Genna once again. "Did he threaten you? Is that why you needed help getting out of there? Are you in some kind of danger?"

Nathon's look of surprise must have been mirrored on Genna's face.

"I - I don't think so!" Genna reached out toward the comm link that must have been a moment from alerting the Imperial authorities. "I don't believe he ever wished me harm. He said he wanted to help me to get back on my feet, to dance again. He wouldn't…"

Vivian didn't seem so sure. "And the little girl who was with them? She's not in any danger either?"

"Oh no!" Genna assured them. "She's their…" she almost said little and stopped herself. "She's their sister."

Vivian reluctantly folded the comm unit and put it back into her pocket.

Nathon tried again, "But you said he and his… squad? killed Ret?"

Genna took a deep breath. "They're clones."

"Oh!" Nathon registered instant comprehension.

Now Vivian was the one who was confused. "But they look nothing alike. We are talking about the gentleman with the goggles who was with you after the match and the big one who was in the stands, and the little girl is their…"

"She's one, too." Genna uttered a high pitched sort of a cackle.

"That's not possible, is it?"

"They all had genetic manipulations or mutations or something." Genna waved a hand vaguely and wiped at her face with the wet towel again.

Nathon took over the explanation in a low voice. "Gen's oldest brother was killed in a clone ambush at the start of the war. At least our start of the war. It's what made Onderon join the Separatists."

Genna shook her head. "But it wasn't clones then. It was Dooku's men who had stolen their armor. Or at least that's what… he said." Could she believe anything Tech had told her? Was it just what she had wanted to hear? Had he only said it to get into her bed? She had been so sure last night but now she doubted everything.

"That was the rumor the rebels were spreading, too, even during the war. They said the attack was specifically aimed at Senator Bonteri's husband and then she was targeted, herself and her son joined the rebels." Nathon remembered. "It makes sense."

Genna nodded and took another shaky breath. Something inside her still wanted to believe that that part wasn't a lie.

"But that was years ago," Vivian led. "What about this other brother?"

"I had four brothers. Daryc was the oldest, Nathon's and my first limmie coach, he was the one who died in the Aargonar ambush. Saviin and Kebiin were twins; they were in the market place just a couple weeks after you left," Genna gave him a helpless look. "The rebels drew most of the droids out of the city into the highlands but there were still a few. They had an operating post in that building on the south side of the plaza. The northerners brought the building down. Sav and Keb were killed and I was…."

"I swear to the gods of Unifar, I had no idea! Gen, if I had been there…" He dropped down next to her hoverchair and took one of her hands in both of his.

"There was nothing you could have done. I was glad you weren't there. The idea of one more person who I c-cared about being caught up in that awful day…" She peered up a little guiltily at Vivian and then carefully removed her hand from his grasp. "You were better off on Kuat."

Vivian, for her part, shook her head and waved away any jealousy. "So when the war ended it was just the two of you, you having been injured and your last brother, Ret?"

Genna nodded and continued the story. "Ret had been infatuated with this girl, Hero, for years. She joined the rebels and while I don't think Ret ever officially joined them, he tagged along. Hero married somebody else but Ret had heard enough of Saw Gerrera's speeches that he wanted to hang around. When Saw started gathering refugees and especially when Ret saw the kids, they reminded him of when we had to leave Mandalore. I think there might have also been a twi'lek woman who he had grown fond of. He didn't tell me much about it but he did come to see me at the house after the first time the Empire sent clones to kill Gerrera…"

She remembered it so clearly, when her brother had burst into the house telling her about how Saw had 'talked sense' into the clones who had come to kill him. She had pictured the white armored, wet droids that they had always seen on the holos, but had Ret said something about this particular squad being different?

Genna certainly imagined it differently now: the men she knew, who she believed she was growing to care deeply for, armed to the teeth and all those weapons pointed at women and children and old ones and the civilians who only meant to protect and provide for them.

Ret had been so sure that when they flew away it would be the end of it. He was so hopeful that the refugees might be able to settle here on Onderon as their family had done when they were children.

And she realized something else that Ret had been trying to tell her. If the refugees did have to move on, he had wanted to go with them. He didn't know how to tell her that he was thinking of leaving her alone. She might have been happy for him to go if she had known.

"So the clones were sent back by the Empire to take care of unfinished business?" Nathon asked.

Genna nodded.

"But they told you they're now on the run from the Empire?" Vivian inquired.

"Maybe they were just trying to gain my trust." She had trusted them.

"And they're down stairs, in this very hotel, right now?"

On that first day in the marketplace she might have exposed them for what they were and for some reason she didn't want to do that now. Maybe it was the same reason now, as it was then, because of Omega.

…

Omega picked at her slice of cake with her fork and glanced at the door through which Genna had disappeared. She said she was only going to the 'fresher, but she'd been gone for an awfully long time. It was possible that, with her paralysis, the process was just more time consuming.

"Uh-oh," Wrecker gulped. "There's only one piece left. Should I save it for…" He looked around. "Where is she?"

"Fresher," Omega informed him more confidently than she felt. "Maybe I should go check on her since I'm the only one who can go into the ladies'?"

"Yeah, maybe you should. They'll probably still be at it for a while." He nodded at the other three who were arguing about Genna and the mission and about the sharing of information.

Omega slipped out of the room and looked around the lobby. She had no idea where the freshers might be in this place but she was pretty sure of something else and that was how to finish this mission.

If she could do that then maybe she could prove to Hunter that Genna was just an innocent bystander and then he'd see that it was okay for her and Tech to be together. With that decided, she made her way to the hotel entrance and merged with the crowd in the busy Iziz street.

…

"So what do you want to do now?" Nathon asked Genna.

Vivian was on the comm with the front desk explaining the delay in their departure but she had followed Genna's wishes in not exposing the identity of the party who had rented the private dining room, if only because they'd know who it was who had given them away and then Manda only knew what they would do.

"I just want to get off this kriffing planet," Genna sniffed.

"What about your home and the business?"

"I think I might have an interested buyer if I can contact him and communicate the offer." She had her datapad with her but she had shut off the comm function as soon as she realized that Tech would probably try to contact her as soon as he realized she was missing.

"You can use my comm link for that if you'd like." Vivian held the unit out to her as she returned from using it herself.

Genna took it. "Thank you both so much. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there."

She pulled out her datapad to look up the ID she needed and to open the translation program to Togruti. She could do that without the comm being activated but she had the momentary panic that maybe they could track her through the device anyway since Tech had been the one to fix it for her. She was just going to have to do this quickly and take the chance.

"Gen," Nathon spoke up while she worked. "What if you went back to school? I know U of O isn't an option but Kuat University is good too. Maybe you could come back with us and pick up where you left off in your studies."

He looked to his girlfriend to see if she thought it was the right thing to do and she covered her heart with her hand and uttered a soft, "aww," in agreement.

Genna appreciated the sentiment but she shook her head. "I'd never be able to afford it. There's no way I can get a scholarship now and even if I'm able to sell off everything here… well I'm not asking near what it's all worth because I know they'd never be able to pay that."

At the same time Genna didn't want to completely refuse if they actually meant to help her leave the planet and set up elsewhere. "You don't happen to know of a good beauty school on Kuat, do you?"

She didn't expect a favorable response. Vivian seemed the type who would only frequent the most exclusive salons.

Her answer surprised them both. "Of course. There's a cosmetology academy a few blocks away from the university campus. It's the only place I trust." She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder with a flourish.

"Really?" Nate and Genna both asked.

"Yes really! I thought you, at least, Genna, would understand how these exclusive salons only charge an insane amount of credits for their signature style that probably went out of fashion years ago, while the students at the schools are all about trying something new, and they have their instructors looking over their shoulders so they're always trying to do their best to impress, they have to keep up to date about toxins and allergens, and they know there are less expensive products with all the same ingredients as the name brands."

"Well, I mean, I guess I knew all that?" Genna felt the beginning of a smile creep over her features. After all the fear and indecision it was a welcome change.

"Just promise me." Vivian's own expression was one of satisfaction. "If I provide you with an introduction, when you get your license and go off to start your own salon you'll never become one of those sort that are only in it for the credits and not for the art."

"I promise."

"I guess it's settled then." Nathon smiled at the two of them. "You make whatever arrangements you need to make here and then we'll head straight over to the space dock where our transport awaits."

"Okay." Genna looked down again at the datapad and comm unit in her hands. She was going to do this. It was her life and nothing was going to hold her back.

…

The argument down in the party room might have gone on for much longer if Hunter had not expressed his regret that his brothers had encouraged Omega to go along with their deception. Echo was the one who pointed out that it had really been her idea that the rest of them had agreed to and then when Hunter turned to ask if this was true they all realized that neither Omega nor Genna were present to give an answer.

"Uh," Wrecker held a plate full of crumbs behind his back. "Genna had to use the 'fresher and then Omega went to check on her."

"How long ago was this?" Tech asked.

"I don't know." The big guy shrugged, now wishing he had been paying more attention to the birthday girl than to her cake.

"We have to find them," Tech made ready to tear the place apart.

Hunter however pulled him back. "We have to find Omega. She's our priority. I need you to understand that before we find out your girlfriend has lured her away into some kind of trap."

"Genna wouldn't do that."

"We'll see."