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This fic was originally posted on theforce.net, where I go by the screenname of SaberBlade. If you recognize this, don't worry, it isn't plagiarized; I'm simply reposting it here also.
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General Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and the characters belong to their respective authors. Anything you don't recognize is mine; please respect my muse. I don't intend any infringement with this fic; it was created because I have an abiding love for Star Wars and a wish to share my interpretation of it with the world.
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Details:
Name: Whole
Time Frame: Post-NJO
Pairing: Kyp Durron and Jaina Solo
Rating: PG to PG-13
Post: Chapter 9 of ?
Story Status: Work in Progress
Notes: There is a prequel, Broken, which can be found both on this site and on theforce.net. I recommend reading it before this fic, though it isn't technically needed. This story starts a few hours after Broken ends.
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As always, reviews are appreciated.
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He loved her to the point of distraction. Her face would appear each time he closed his eyes; he found himself thinking of her even when she was worlds away. Now that they were on the same ship it was worse. She intruded into his mind during his waking moments; when he slept, his dreams were of her. It had been this way before, years ago when they had last worked together; absently, Kyp wondered if a day had gone by in the past five or six years if he had somehow not thought of her.
No, probably not, he conceded. It had been her constant presence in his mind that had finally made him accept that he loved her. He hadn't been able to keep his thoughts from passing over her; he still lingered over his memories of her in his spare time. She had settled comfortable into his mind, and there she would stay.
Not that she had consciously decided to do so; Jaina probably was still unaware of how much he treasured her. In his thoughts, in his dreams, she was his. Even if she never would be his anywhere else, in his mind he could claim her for his own.
At the moment, it was hard for him to remember quite why he wanted her, why he loved her. She looked down at him curiously, and repeated herself. "No."
Kyp ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "She's my apprentice," he pointed out.
Jaina simply shrugged and returned her attention to her X-wing. She was crouching behind the cockpit, half inside the astromech's space, tinkering with something that was staining her fingers black. "So ask her," she said, voice slightly muffled as she was no longer leaning over the side of the X-wing to speak with him. "And it didn't really have anything to do with you or the Force, so unless your apprentices are now no longer allowed to have conversations with friends, I don't see why you need to be concerned about it."
"Liar," he snapped back at her. "I've told enough lies to recognize one when I hear it. Whatever you two talked about changed the way she's been learning from me."
At this Jaina closed whatever panel she'd been working on and glared down at him. "Just because you lie at any given opportunity doesn't mean the rest of us operate on the same principle, Durron."
He stepped forward and met her gaze with his own unflinching stare. "I want to know what you told her."
"Tough luck. Go try and intimidate someone else. I'm sure all you have to do is walk out of here glaring like that and Keshli will be convinced you've gone over to the Dark Side and immediately tell you everything she's ever known to get you to leave her alone." Derision thickly coated her words. "You don't always get what you want, Kyp. Learn to live with it."
Why did he love this woman? Why couldn't he love someone quiet, someone calm and peaceful, someone who didn't so enjoy ripping pieces out of him, someone who respected him enough to answer a simple question? Why did he love some spitfire flygirl of a Jedi who had to make everything difficult?
"I don't need this lecture," he bit out. "Not from a spoiled Jedi brat who's had everything she's ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter."
He turned away, but a muffled thud made him look back. Jaina had dropped from her X-wing to the bay floor; she rose from her crouch and advanced on him, anger etched into each movement.
Kyp couldn't move. Desire roared through his blood; he forced it back. Oh yeah, he thought, faintly amused. This is why I love her.
Jaina was furious with him. Temper brought color to her cheeks and a bright reckless light to her eyes; she was breathing quickly, as though she had run the length of the docking bay. She stalked over to him and punctuated each sentence by poking a finger into his chest. "If you think I'm spoiled, think again. If you think I've gotten everything I've wanted, think again. It's time to reevaluate, Durron. Life's not fair. Get used to it."
He caught her right hand on its last emphatic descent, and instead of forcing her back, as she clearly expected, dragged her closer. His left hand darted out and trapped her other hand, and he wrapped his arms around Jaina as he pinned her hands behind her back. "You're really quite beautiful when you're angry," he told her conversationally, mouth inches away from her forehead.
Her eyes spat brown sparks. "Well then," she gritted from between clenched teeth, "you're about to see me really gorgeous. Let me go!"
"No." And he bent down and captured her lips with his, a conqueror claiming victory. For half a second she struggled against him, but then, with a small moan, her lips parted and her body melted against his. He kissed her roughly, plundering her mouth, Jaina willingly offering herself up to him.
He abruptly raised his head and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed; she sighed softly as they fluttered open to look up at him. Before her anger would return, Kyp spoke. "Will you tell me now?"
Her lips curved in a purely feminine smile. "No."
He kissed her again, but the heat had gentled into warmth. This kiss was lazy; he lingered over her mouth, the softness of it, her warmth, turning each subtle movement of lips and tongue into a caress. His head felt light when he finally released her lips; Jaina was leaning against him as though her legs would no longer support her.
This time she spoke first. "Kyp . . ." Wonder and confusion mingled in the way she said his name. "Why . . .?"
He smiled and let his hands release hers to come up and frame her face. "I think I've reevaluated, Jaina," he told her quietly. "And I guess you won't tell me what you were talking to Keshli about while I was in Council." He kissed her lightly, quickly, and released her. "So I suppose I should stop bothering you."
"Probably a good idea," Jaina agreed, and though her voice was a bit weak and she wobbled the first couple of steps, she turned back to her X-wing. "And I don't think Keshli would appreciate it if you used that same form of persuasion on her to try and get her to tell you what we talked about."
He couldn't smother his laughter; Jaina climbed back up to the top of her X-wing and glanced down at him.
"I think I'll reserve that particular form of persuasion for you, Goddess," he called up to her, already backing his way out of the empty hanger bay. "I'll see you at dinner."
She waved a hand at him in both acceptance and dismissal, and Kyp turned out of the hanger bay and into the corridor, good mood completely restored.
Yes, he was rather glad he loved a spitfire flygirl of a Jedi. No one else dared argue with him, and he knew that one of the things about Jaina that he'd missed most was watching her get riled up.
Calm and peaceful was boring, anyways.
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Jaina watched him go. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, she very carefully set down her tools and sat down. One hand went up to her mouth. He'd kissed her once before, in one of the Guardian's conference rooms about a week ago. But that had been when she had all but thrown herself at him, sure that his absence had been the reason why she had felt so empty. Since that first kiss they had eased back into the easy familiarity they had once shared with each other- she was comfortable with his arm around her, with the embrace given during a dance. It was almost relaxing to know he was in the same room as her, to have him brush against her or touch her cheek or take her hand.
She was no stranger to kisses; Jag had kissed her before, too many times for her to remember. Jag's kisses were, in essence, not so very different from Kyp's. Then why did she feel as though her experience with Jag hadn't adequately prepared her for Kyp?
Jaina sighed and leaned back against her ship, eyes closing. She could have quite happily let Kyp continue kissing her until dinner. Though, she admitted wryly, if someone had chosen to enter the hanger while the two of them had been locked together . . . It was an idea Jaina preferred not to think about. The Nightfall wasn't that big of a ship, and she and Kyp were the commanders of the only two fighter squadrons on board. Every member of the crew would have known what had happened within minutes.
And that was an unwelcome prospect, because Jaina herself was still wondering just what had happened.
She'd been nearly ready to go for her lightsaber over an insult that she'd had thrown at her dozens of times before. The reasons behind that were still sketchy; she supposed it was the fact that it was Kyp Durron who had insulted her that had made her so angry. He seemed to be able to effortlessly take her to the extremes of emotion, from hate to anger to joy to love.
Jaina paused, and rewound her mental reasoning. Hate to anger to joy to . . . love?
She thought she understood love. Her parents loved each other. They had been married over twenty-five years, and Jaina knew they had loved each other long before they married. Their love was easy, comfortable, and obvious to everyone who knew them in its intensity. It was the kind of love that Jaina had been hoping to find with whoever she would marry. When she had realized that she and Jag would never be able to have such a relationship, it had been both a disappointment and a blessing. They hadn't married, and Jaina knew that they both were happier apart than they would have been together. Jag was even starting to figure things out for himself; Jaina smiled faintly and wondered how much longer it would take before he would really see Shawnkyr right in front of him. She loved the man, really she did, but he was rather blind.
Her smile faded. She did love Jag, much the same way she loved her friends from the war: Zekk, Tenel Ka, Lowie, Tahiri, Tekli, Tesar, even Sharr and Piggy. No one could blame her if Jag was perhaps a bit closer to her heart than anyone but her family.
Jaina frowned. By all rights, Kyp should have been there, among the list of those friends she loved. But he wasn't; he hovered, separate, in a category all to himself. It was easy to catalogue the others, easy to admit that she loved them. Kyp . . . Kyp was more difficult. Kyp she didn't know what to do with.
But the look in his eyes when she had marched up to him . . . Oh, she had been furious and she had ignored it, but she wasn't blind. Her heart had nearly stopped; she had to hide her shiver of awareness with her anger.
Remembering, Jaina shivered again. She'd always thought that Kyp was handsome; she seemed to have a weakness for dark hair and intense green eyes. But having his green eyes smoldering dark and hot and focused only on her was an experience she'd never considered before. She'd hugged him before; she'd seen him practicing with his lightsaber shirtless– her lips quirked up; that had certainly been an education– she'd known he was strong. But knowing he was strong, feeling that strength contained in a hug . . . Those were completely different from having strong arms tightly locked around her, completely separate from being pressed against a hard male body. Kyp had made her feel weak, but she thought it was excusable. Knowing something and being confronted with the reality of it were two separate issues.
And oh, the reality.
Flushing, Jaina quickly dropped her hand from her mouth and forced herself to stand. Kyp was complicated. She'd known this for years. Why should she expect him to suddenly become simplified after a kiss?
Two kisses, her body reminded her. Well, three if she counted that last brush of his lips against hers. Two very good kisses.
Shut up, Jaina snarled at herself, half horrified, half amused. Ship. Think on the ship. You don't want to have your engines blow out fighting pirates.
It was hard work to pry her mind off of Kyp, and even once she immersed herself into the engine work, he was distracting. Distracting enough that the memory of being completely surrounded by his arms was enough to make her lose concentration and cut her fingers on the center fuel pump, something she'd never been stupid enough to do before.
Cursing mildly under her breath, she dropped back down to the hanger bay floor and groaned to herself as she leaned against one of the X-wing's landing struts.
This could be serious trouble.
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Thanks!
-Keth
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