Chapter 8 – Early morning run, Part II

"I love you, daddy."

Jacen woke with a start and was looking up at two sets of the loveliest grey eyes. As he carefully sat up, his daughter launched herself at him and embraced him in the tightest hug possible for a five-year-old. "Daddy!"

Wincing with considerable pain, Jacen stroked his daughter's hair as he let her feelings of relief that he was okay wash over him like a gentle rain. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he should not be able to feel her relief; he should not be able to feel the Force at all. As he frowned in confusion, Allana's feelings faded away and he shook his head; it must have been a figment of his imagination. Tenel Ka had told him once that she still felt things in her non-existent left hand, so he supposed that he would always feel 'phantom' Force impressions.

Tenel Ka saw his frown and assumed it to be in reaction to Allana's reaction to his waking up. Smirking slightly, she gave him a 'who did we think we were kidding' shrug. "You did not tell me how big a toll this was going to take on you."

Jacen rolled his eyes and answered drily, "How was I supposed to know?" Gently, he removed Allana's arms from around his chest and turned her around, letting her remain on his lap. He truly appreciated the sentiment, but his ribs really hurt; from what he could tell, it appeared that there were at least four of them that were cracked or broken. As Allana scooted back a bit so that she could put her head on his shoulder, he looked back at Tenel Ka. "How long was I out?"

The Queen Mother shook her head as she glanced at the chrono behind him, "Not very long. Two, three minutes maybe."

He nodded absently as he thought about his conversation with Anakin; he was pretty sure that it lasted longer than just a couple of minutes. "Hmm…it felt longer."

Now it was Tenel Ka's turn to frown. Why would he think that? She knew Jacen well enough to know when he was leaving something out. Before she could ask him about it, Allana blurted, "Mommy says that you can start living with us now."

Jacen smiled and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Would you like that?" Allana nodded vigorously and he saw Tenel Ka try to suppress a smile. "Okay then, I will."

Grimacing, he looked back at Tenel Ka, "Unfortunately, Plan B…"

"…Will not work." she finished.

Jacen sighed dejectedly, "You knew?"

Nodding sadly, "I suspected." Pausing slightly, she daintily wiped a tear from her right eye, "I figured that 'Plan B' would be the best deal I could get. I would rather have you here for a few months versus not at all."

Jacen closed his eyes and nodded. Tenel Ka's pragmatism was one of the things he loved most about her, and it is what made her such a great Queen. She always focused on what could be done, not what she wished could be done. Opening his eyes, he started, "We'll have to try…"

"NO!" Her voice sounded like a thunderclap and her grey eyes flared with anger. Startled, Allana turned her head to look at her mother. She had never heard her mother raise her voice like that, not even the time Tenel Ka caught her playing with a ratty, old, eggshell necklace. Clearly embarrassed at her outburst, Tenel Ka quieted before continuing,

"No. We are not doing 'Plan C'. I know that you hold her in high esteem, and I am glad you still consider her a friend, but you are NOT going to Zonama without a chaperone." Her eyes hardened once again, "If you want to see Danni Quee again, you will have to invite her here." Where I can keep an eye on her. She left that part unsaid, but Jacen knew what she was getting at.

Jacen fought in vain to keep from chuckling. Truth be told, he found her jealousy a bit endearing and was oddly flattered by the sentiment. Finally, he gave her a knowing smile, "That's not what I was meant." He watched as his Queen narrowed her eyes warily. "While I was…'out', I had a talk with Anakin." Seeing Tenel Ka's face scrunch in confusion, he continued quietly, "He showed me a way to make this work."

When he had finished describing his visit with Anakin, and his dream from earlier, Tenel Ka gave him a perplexed look, "While I think it is great that you got to talk to your brother, how does you getting beat up by a street gang help us?"

The former Sith Lord-in-training opened his mouth to reply and promptly closed it. How does this help? Anakin left out the most important part: how to get from that gutter to living with Tenel Ka here in the Palace. What would Anakin do? Improvise. Sadly, not his strongest suit. He heard Tenel Ka's dejected sigh and was about to concede that he had absolutely no idea where to go from here when he spied the treadmill in the corner of the room.

With a flash of insight, he looked back at his best friend. "Do you still go jogging around the city?"

Frowning, trying to decipher why he would ask about her exercise habits, she answered. "Of course."

A small smile crossed Jacen's face as he nodded once in satisfaction, "Good. In a few minutes you'll decide to go on a morning run outside the Palace and your route will just happen to take you past theCommerce Guild Investment Bank…"

It was now Tenel Ka's turn to nod as she caught on to the plan, "…where I will happen upon a street fight and a badly injured man."

Gesturing toward her with his left hand, "Exactly." His eyes sparkled mischievously as he continued, "Naturally, being the monarch you are, you'll want to visit this man in the hospital…"

"Naturally." Tenel Ka could not keep the smile off her face, as she continued to talk through their plan. "Being the Queen that I am, I will want to invite him to dinner to offer an official apology…"

"Of course. When I arrive at the Palace, I will meet your adorable daughter…" Jacen replied, winking at Allana.

"…Over appetizers, we'll start to swap stories…"

"…We'll discover our shared love for the theatre." Jacen caught her unbelieving look and gave her an 'I'm-making-this-up-as-we-go-along' shrug. "I'll ask you to accompany me to a play…."

"…I will reciprocate by inviting you to a benefit gala…"

"…Next thing you know, we're an item." Jacen stopped there and for a long moment the two of them simply gave each other a knowing smile of restrained delight at their over-the-top plan.

Allana had been observing this whole exchange, her head moving back and forth like she was watching a smash-ball match as she sat on her father's lap. She had never seen her parents act so…flirty towards one another and was not sure what to make of it. Scowling at their adolescent behavior, she looked at the two of them, "You guys are creepy."

Tenel Ka's smile faded as Jacen chuckled at Allana's comment and ruffled her hair. Her tone became almost fearful, "You do not think this is too contrived?"

Jacen shook his head, "That's the thing: this is so unbelievable that it has to be true. No one volunteers to have his hand whacked off." Jacen heard her small snort of laughter as he continued, "The Queen Mother never stumbles upon a mugging. Trust me: the more far-fetched a story is, the more likely it is to be true."

Jacen craned his neck to check the chrono on the wall behind him: 05:35. He had twenty-odd minutes to make it to the bank and change the course of history. Grimacing in obvious pain, he gently placed Allana on the floor and struggled to his feet. Once upright, he staggered a bit and felt Tenel Ka's hand on his left arm to steady him.

Concern filled her voice as she asked, "Are you sure you can do this?"

Fixing his friend a determined gaze, "This is our best chance." He smiled grimly, "Pain is only temporary." The Queen Mother could only nod as she watched him bend down to pick up his arm off the floor. Allana gave him a disgusted look as he picked up the appendage like a stick. As he stood back up, he commented drily, "I should probably take this."

Tenel Ka walked over to the far wall, picked up his severed hand, and gingerly pried his lightsaber out of its grip, hooking it into her pants next to hers. As she returned, she held his severed hand out to him. "This as well." Jacen nodded as he readjusted his grip and could hold both of his former appendages like only so much firewood. Shaking his head at the macabre view he must present, he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Tenel Ka called after him, rushing over to a cabinet and returning with a telescoping metal baton, "I will not have you go out without a weapon." Leaning forward slightly, she gave him a passionate kiss as she placed the baton in his pants pocket. "Good luck." she whispered, "I will see you soon."

Giving her his 'Jacen' smile, he returned her kiss with one of his own. "You'd better."

As Jacen exited the Palace through an old maintenance tunnel, Tenel Ka was busy disabling the security systems while he transited through each section of the tunnels, making sure to re-engage them after he had exited the area. Unfortunately, the further away he got, the smaller his already tiny presence became and the tougher it was to keep up with his movements. She could feel a cold sweat start to drip between her shoulder blades as she poured more energy into the Force, realizing that if she lost him, she would not be able to disable the remaining systems at the correct time, putting their whole plan in jeopardy. Just when she was really starting to worry, she felt her daughter's small hand grab hers and suddenly she felt Jacen's presence bloom into existence again, and she squeezed Allana's hand in thanks. To be fair, Jacen's presence was still faint; it felt like she was seeing Jacen through a camera lens smudged with petroleum jelly, but it was much better than what she could see on her own. Somewhere in her sub-conscious, she realized that this implied something important, but she did not have time to worry about it at the moment; Jacen was about to leave the Palace, and she needed to blank the six cameras on that side of the grounds. Disabling all six took much more concentration than she cared to admit, and when she felt him dash down block and hide in some shrubbery she let out a deep breath of relief. She had done all she could, now he was on his own for a while. Good luck, love. It was odd in a way, she had never used such a term of affection before; only upon threat of losing him forever did she finally find the courage to admit to herself how much he meant to her.

Allana watched her mother in fascination as Tenel Ka's face scrunched a bit in concentration, clearly reaching out with the Force. Mommy was really strong, what was making it so hard? Deciding that she could help, Allana closed her eyes and reached out, finding Daddy almost immediately. If she could find Daddy so quickly, why couldn't Mommy? She pushed the thought aside and looked for Mommy. Even with her rudimentary Force skills, Allana could sense the growing worry and frustration emanating from her mother about not being able to track Daddy very well. Allana, not sure if she could maintain a link with both Mommy and Daddy, did the next best thing…grabbed Mommy's hand, anchoring herself to her Mother and letting her link with Daddy flow through her. As soon as she did, she could feel Mommy's relief as she squeezed her hand warmly.

Jacen left the Palace via the same route he used to get into it, relying on Tenel Ka's abilities to track him and blank out the surveillance cameras as he passed. Even though she could not sense him through the bond they used to share, he knew that she would still be able to track him. Reaching the end of tunnel, he cautiously cracked the well-hidden door and slowly stuck his head out to take a look. There were no armed guards waiting, and he did not hear the telltale sounds of approaching sirens, so he had to assume that Tenel Ka managed to temporarily disable the security measures. Quickly, before he over-extended his friend's abilities, he rushed across the street and hurried down half a block, trying to stay in the shadows, before hiding behind some thick shrubs. The former GAG Colonel smiled slightly as he imagined Tenel Ka's relief that he was safely out of the palace. A slight frown crossed his face as he heard a faint Good luck, love sound in his head. Jacen shook his head as he realized that he was definitely imagining things; Tenel Ka would never use such a term of endearment.

Crouching in the shadows, he took several moments to get his bearings. Jacen did not want to admit in front of his daughter, but the events of the last twenty minutes had left him pretty drained and disoriented. Only the fear of failing two lovely ladies, combined with his inherent Solo stubbornness, was keeping him upright. After several confused moments, he finally regained his sense of direction and started off in the direction of the Commerce Guild Investment Bank, trying to remain in the shadows as much as possible.

As Jacen limped along, he reflected on his conversation with his brother and why he was so easily duped by Lumiya. Maybe the other Jedi were right: maybe he was arrogant. He had been keeping no one's council but his own for the better part of a decade and had come to believe that he was the only one who could solve the galaxy's problems. He was not sure of when or how it happened, but some time ago Jacen Solo had crossed the line between self-confidence and arrogance. It was this arrogance that allowed Lumiya hook him with her plan, and it had almost cost him everything.

Wallowing in self-recrimination and guilt, Jacen lost himself in his thoughts and let his mind forget how much it hurt to move. Suddenly, he found himself standing in front of the Commerce Guild Investment Bank unable to recall actually walking (okay, limping) there. As he glanced up at the sign hoping to check the time with what he remembered from his vision, he thought he heard something and turned his attention again down the street only to find nothing moving. Shaking his head, he looked back at the clock: 12°C. A frown crossed his face until it flashed and displayed the current time: 5:58. Jacen breathed a long sigh of relief as the sign above the bank changed to display the temperature again. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Jacen looked around, trying to figure out what to do for the next six minutes. Spying a bench on the far corner, he started limping in that direction when he felt a bone-jarring jolt and his world went black.

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A/N: Thanks again for reading my silly little story!