Disclaimer:  Same old one, none of these characters belong to me.  I am making no money off of this.  If you have any questions, or want to see the complete disclaimer and list of characters, see the Prologue

A Complicated Friendship:

The Story of Jag Fel and Jaina Solo

Chapter 13: The Trip to Naboo

As they prepared for the trip, Luke and Mara called them.

"Guys, I just got a call from mom," he informed them, "she's sending one of her ships for you guys.  That way all you have to do is relax."

"Wow, that's great Uncle Luke."

"You guys should go get your stuff from Jag's ship," Mara said, "Padme said the ship will be here soon."

"Ok, let's get our stuff Jag."

Mara just stared after them for a while after they left.

"Hey, Mara," Luke said waving a hand in her face.

"Huh, what?"

"You there?  What's wrong?"  He asked, being over protective. 

"There's just something about Jag that seems familiar.  I just can't place it."  Mara said still in a daze.

A little while later:

Now they were off in Padme's Nubian Cruiser. 

"I love Nubian's!" Jaina exclaimed, "They are my favorite type of ship.  I'm going to get myself on someday."

"You really love it don't you Sticks?" he asked.

"What?"

"Ships, flying, space, the whole works."

"Yeah, I feel so alive when I'm around them."

They just sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

"So Jag, tell me about your brothers and sisters, if you want to, I'd love to hear more about them."

"Well, Valin was the oldest.  He was my best friend.  We had so many plans of what we were gonna do with our lives."  He paused for a moment, his eyes moistening.

"Jag, you don't have to continue…"

"No," he cut her off, "I need to get this out, finally."  He paused to collect his thoughts.  "We were getting ready to take over our father's squadron.  We'd been flying in it for years.  He was going to be the diplomat and I was going to be Spike Lead, because of my lack of diplomacy.  Anyway, one day we were ambushed while flying.  Val radioed that he'd been hurt, so a rescue group flew out and got him.  I assumed he'd be ok, not knowing the extent of his injuries.  I kept flying, then when I got back to base…" he faded off as tears filled his eyes, "I found he'd died, before I could see him again."  The tears were now flowing freely.  "He'd left me a message.  It said 'Jag, my little bro and best friend, don't let this hold you back.  Keep flying high.  I'll always be watching you.'"

Jaina slowly pulled Jag into a hug as he wept.  She ran her hand over his military style hair cut.  'No wonder he was so worried when I was hurt,' she thought, 'it was déjà vu for him.'  "If you don't want to say more I understand," she said soothingly.

"No, I need to get it out.  I'm sorry for falling apart like this."  He apologized.

"Don't you be sorry.  If anything were to happen to my brothers, I'd be in even worse shape about it."

"Well, Jade is a lot like mom, and Neeja is getting ready to be tested for the squad.  He's following in dad, Val, and mine's footsteps."  He said with pride.  "Zena was my side-kick, I always called her Munchkin or Squirt.  She always called me Lanky," he said with a sad smile.  "She was so young.  We were out running errands, then the next thing I know is we were in a hospital.  I fought my way out of bed and to Squirt's side.  They said she had extensive internal bleeding and nothing could be done.  She told me not to blame myself.  That she would be fine because Valin would take care of her and not to worry."  He was sobbing by now, and Jaina just held him, sending him peaceful and comforting thoughts.

They say there for a while before Jag began stirring.

"Well now it's time for you to tell me more about your family and friends," he said trying to change the subject.

She caught his meaning.  He wanted to move to a happier subject.

"Well you already know who my family is," she grinned.

"You know what I mean," he said playfully shoving her.

"Well, I'm the oldest of three.  Jacen loves animals and nature.  Ani loves machines and building/taking things apart."

"What do you love?"  he said curiously.

All of the sudden she had the urge to say 'you''What's gotten into me,' she thought, shaking her head.  'Now what was he talking about…Oh right.'

"We've already established this.  Flying, I love flying.  It's the greatest feeling ever."

"I know exactly what you mean.  So who else are you close to?"

"Well Sean-Conner of course, he's been a very good friend of mine for years.  But one of the two guys who is probably closest to me is my other brother."

"Your other brother?" Jag asked, he was suddenly very confused.  He could have sworn that she only had two brothers.

"Yeah, my cousin, Ben.  I have a really close bond with my two brothers.  But as soon as Ben and I met, we formed a very special, very unique bond.  It's very unusual, but with it the two of us are closer than my brothers and I."

"Oh," Jag said a little disappointed that he wasn't included in the list of close friends.  "Who is the other guy?" he asked with a little hope.

"Well, this other guy is one of those fighter jocks.  You know the ones that think they are better than anyone else."  She said smiling, she then added, "He's tall, short black hair, intense green eyes.  He used to be real formal but I helped loosen him up.  Then I found out from a mutual friend, that he loosened up even more after I was hurt."

Jag just grinned when he realized she was talking about him.  "A fighter jock that thinks he is better than everyone else.  I don't think, I know."  He said this while trying to hide his laughter.  Jaina reached out to shove him, but he caught her arm and they were thrown off balance.  He ended up with Jaina very close to him, he could feel her breath on his face. 

"Intense green eyes, huh?" he said then revealed, "And the reason I loosened up more after you were hurt was because for a time I thought I'd lost you.  I promised to be more open with you and my other close friends from then on."  He just stared into Jaina's eyes, and she stared right back into his green ones.  Soon they started to move closer.  'Oh my gosh,' they thought simultaneously, 'he/she's going to kiss me.' 

Right as their lips were about to meet the ships intercom went off.

"Colonel Fel, Lieutenant Solo, we will be arriving at Naboo in 5 minutes, you should get strapped in."

The spell was broken, they went on about their business not thinking about what almost happened.  Even though the thoughts were lurking somewhere in their sub conscious.