*A record two people asked me to continue this!?

*So here it is… set about… 3 months after that third chapter

*I don't own Kyp or Jaina, or Luke, or anyone else.

*But I own Ben in that fangirl-y way. YES!

~~

Kyp paced round his Sekotan quarters nervously. Luke had invited him to Ben's third birthday, and he had accepted the invitation without thinking about it. But in the week since then, he had thought about it far more than was necessary.

Just a birthday party. Just a chance to socialise with the Skywalkers, and Jacen and Danni, and Tahiri, and Tekli, and Han and Leia… And Jaina. There it was. Jaina.

He glanced up at the chrono on the worktop. If he didn't want to be too fashionably late, he had to leave in about ten minutes. Not enough time to think!

Should he go? The last time he'd seen Jaina hadn't been exactly… friendly. But if he didn't go… what? If he didn't go, well, Mara would be more than happy. Luke wouldn't exactly be disappointed. Ben, well, he was just "Kee" to Ben. And look what happened last time he grew close to a friend's child! Not that Ben would present quite the same problem…

He collapsed into a chair and let out a sigh. No. He wouldn't go. He wouldn't go, he would stay home, meditate, practise lightsabre techniques, sleep. Same as he'd done every day for over three months now.

There. A plan. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. OK. Meditate. Right.

~~

Jaina looked round at the gathering of her friends and family. There certainly seemed to be a lot of them, but maybe it was just the size of the room – it was rather small. And looked even more so at the moment, with a huge buffet table laid out at one end (Jaina wondered vaguely who had cooked, making a mental note not to touch it in either case), chairs thrown randomly around the room, and the small table in the centre piled high with presents.

Over at the buffet, she saw Jacen and Danni talking to Tahiri. All three held plates, the food on which had been abandoned after one bite. (Probably Luke who cooked that particular dish then, she thought).

Ben was standing next to the centre table, looking wistfully at the pile of presents he wasn't allowed to open yet. Suddenly, Han grabbed him from behind and whirled him in the air; Jaina smiled as Ben giggled loudly.

Leia was talking to Mara, and the both of them were glancing at the buffet table every so often. Mara looked annoyed, perhaps because no one was eating yet. Jaina thought briefly about going over and grabbing a plate of food, just to make her feel better, but decided against it. Would probably be worse in the long run.

She looked round again, and finally saw her uncle standing on Tahiri's left, talking to Tekli. Tekli looked a little worried – Luke seemed to be talking about the food, probably trying to show off how much he managed to cook. Yes. Best to stay well away from the food.

Which left Jaina, alone in one of the chairs, surrounded by people and yet still managing to feel lonely. Jag was away on Csilla again, so he couldn't make it to the party. She'd travelled to Zonama Sekot with her parents on the Falcon, and was starting to appreciate how old that ship really was. But of course, her father would never replace it – at least, not fully, although pretty much every removable part had been replaced over the years, not to mention a good number of non-removable parts.

She sighed and looked around again. Now Jacen was talking to Tahiri, and Danni had gone to rescue Tekli. Luke moved over to Leia and Mara, and Han put Ben down to go and join them. After a few seconds of wandering dizzily, Ben ran over to Jaina.

"Jaya! OK?"

Jaina smiled. "Yes, Ben, I'm OK. Happy Birthday! Are you enjoying yourself?"

Ben looked at her dubiously, despite the reassurance that she was OK. But he seemed to let it go, and grinned. "Yeah! But want presents…"

"I think you have to wait until Mommy and Daddy bring out the cake. Although I hope we don't have to eat a bit first," she added quietly.

Ben laughed, his childish giggle cheering Jaina up some more. "Mommy didn't let Daddy make cake. Tari made it!"

Jaina looked shocked for a second. Tahiri made the cake? She didn't know she could cook. Well, couldn't be worse than Luke's. "That's great, then…"

Ben nodded. "Tari make good cakes! Yum! You like it!"

Jaina nodded back, but didn't say anything more. Instead she let her gaze wander back over to the groups chatting. Jacen glanced over at her, and she smiled reassuringly. He smiled back and turned to Tahiri again.

"Kee didn't come."

Jaina turned back to Ben, staring at him sharply. He stared back, the smile still there, but somehow understanding. And knowing. "No. He didn't." She'd been trying not to think about him; trying not to hope he'd be here, so she could see him again.

"Daddy told Kee to come, but he didn't. We go find him!"

Jaina stared at him again, and then shook her head. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, I think the cake will be soon…"

Ben shook his head. "Cake later – we go find Kee now! Come on!" He pulled at Jaina's hand, and she couldn't help smiling.

"Your Mommy and Daddy will notice you're gone though. We should probably just stay."

"They won't. Come on!" He tugged harder, forcing Jaina to stand up or risk being pulled rather unceremoniously to the floor. The kid was strong for a three year old – but then, he was strong in the Force, and maybe that was it.

"But what if Kyp didn't come for a reason? I don't think he'd just forget." No. He probably didn't come because he didn't want to see her. She tried not to think that; it made something inside her hurt.

"No, Kee wanna see Jaya! And Jaya wanna see Kee. Come on!" And with an even harder tug, Ben half-dragged Jaina across the room, reaching up to open the door and step through.

Jaina wondered vaguely how Ben had known what she was thinking. But then, her shields did seem to weaken when she thought about Kyp – no. She sighed, stepped out after Ben and closed the door behind them. "OK, Ben. Lead the way."

~~

Kyp opened his eyes suddenly, looking round. What had brought him out? And then he sensed it – two powerful presences nearby, heading in his direction. He reached out to sense who it was – Jaina.

What was Jaina doing here?

He sighed and stood up, walking slowly over to the door, leaning against the jamb. He looked outside, and there he saw them, just twenty meters or so away in the tampasi.

"Come on, Jaya!" he heard Ben's small voice cry out. So Ben was bringing her. Why?

"Slow down, Ben! What is it with kids and using the Force to run faster? Slow-" Her voice broke off, and she stopped still as she saw Kyp. He tried to smile, but gave up.

Ben crashed his way past the last boras and skidded to a halt right in front of Kyp. He looked up and grinned. "Kee! Jaya wanna see you… Come to my party!"

Kyp tore his eyes away from Jaina and looked at the small boy. "Hi, Ben… Um… Happy Birthday."

"Thanks. Party!"

Kyp winced and looked back up at Jaina briefly. She had stepped through the last few boras to stand behind Ben, still looking at Kyp. "I – I guess I could come to the party."

Jaina finally smiled, then looked down and tousled Ben's hair. "Good job, Ben. It wouldn't be fair for Master Kyp to miss out on Tahiri's cake now, would it?"

Ben shook his head. "No! Kee come to party, and Kee see Jaya."

Kyp looked up at Jaina again. "Yeah. And see Jaina."

She looked back up at him in surprise, and he grinned reassuringly. Quickly, he reached out and pulled her past Ben and into a hug. A far too brief hug, he thought, as he pulled away again.

But she pulled him back and held him tight for a moment longer, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's been too long."

"It's only been three months."

"Yeah. Too long."

He pulled away again and held her gaze, those beautiful deep brown eyes – no. Stop it. No more.

He sighed inwardly, and then reached a hand out to Ben. "OK, kid. Let's go to your party, then…" And with one hand in Ben's, one round Jaina's shoulder, Kyp walked through the tampasi to a party he'd never intended to go to.

~~

"Hey, there you two are! And you brought Kyp back with you…" Luke considered the younger man for a moment, and then shrugged. "Glad you could make it in the end, Kyp."

"Er-" Kyp suddenly realised his arm was still round Jaina, and took it away quickly. "Yeah. Thanks for inviting me, Master Skywalker."

Luke shook his head ruefully. Why did everyone have to call him that so often? Couldn't they stick to Luke, at least his friends? He wasn't being a Jedi Master just now; he was being a father. But no. He was Master Skywalker. Never mind.

Ben let go of Kyp's hand and moved to run past Luke, but he picked him up quickly. "Got you, you little terror! Come on now, it's almost time for Tahiri's cake."

"Cake! Yum!"

Luke grinned and looked back over at Kyp and Jaina. "You know it won't be nearly as good as mine would be. But unfortunately, Mara wouldn't let me bake one. She muttered something about nerfburgers being more than enough to poison everyone…" He shook his head in mock disbelief.

Jaina laughed, and the sound cheered Luke up immensely. She'd been so quiet and morose earlier; obviously it was Kyp who had changed that. But happy Jaina with Kyp was far preferable to gloomy Jaina alone in the corner.

Kyp smirked briefly. "You don't mean to say anyone doubts your culinary skills, surely? The impudence."

Luke smiled ruefully. "'Fraid so. But Tahiri's will be passably good, I'm sure. Come on, I think Mara's bringing it out in just a second."

~~

The cake was not passably good. It was absolutely delicious, thought Kyp, and as he swallowed the last crumbs of his slice, he looked over at the remaining half longingly.

Jaina laughed and punched him lightly on the arm. "No more cake – we don't want you getting too chubby in your old age."

Kyp smirked. "You mean you don't want me getting chubby. Wouldn't be good for those daydreams, huh?"

He watched gleefully as Jaina turned red, but wasn't granted the pleasure of seeing her get angry with him. Instead, she merely shook her head and turned back to watch Ben.

The red-haired boy was surrounded by discarded flimsiplast wrapping and state of the art high-tech toys – model airspeeders that really flew; a music box that could record and play back your compositions; miniature robots that would play games and teach you at the same time.

But the toy he was playing with at the moment, the toy that he seemed to enjoy the most, was a mere set of blocks with no microprocessors or computer chips. You built them up, and knocked them down. This simple game was keeping Ben amused entirely, much to the annoyance of those guests that had brought the other presents.

"You obviously made a good choice there, Jaina."

Jaina grinned back at Kyp. "I figured he's got enough in common with Anakin – blocks were his favourite toy, too."

Kyp sensed the pain Jaina felt when she mentioned Anakin's name; but he also felt how it had faded a little, how time had healed the cracks just a little bit. "Yeah, I remember that."

"Didn't you get him a set once?"

Kyp had to think for a moment, and then smiled wistfully. "Oh yeah. For what, his fifth birthday?"

"Something like that." Jaina lapsed into a thoughtful silence, and then spoke up again. "They had some sort of Corellian symbols on them."

Kyp smiled ruefully. "Yeah, but I got them in a market on Coruscant."

Jaina laughed quietly. "Figures."

They fell into a comfortable silence again, and Jaina leaned back against the wall, a little closer to Kyp. He was suddenly very conscious of just how close that was. Stop it, he told himself. Stop.

He forced himself to look round, anywhere but at Jaina, and his eyes fell on Mara at the buffet table, talking to Jacen. She noticed him watching her and her eyes narrowed into a glare. Slightly embarrassed, Kyp turned back to Jaina. "Don't look now, but Aunt and Brother conspiring at three o'clock."

Jaina looked past him curiously and he shook his head in mock exasperation. "Told you not to look!"

She nudged him and kept looking, grinning reassuringly at Mara and Jacen. "Yeah, they're talking about us."

"Oh, OK, good to know." He paused. "What are they saying?"

She shrugged and leaned back again. "Not sure, but Aunt Mara's not happy. I think, if Jacen wasn't talking to her, she'd be over here already."

Kyp shook his head again. Great. That's what he needed; Mara even more annoyed with him for something he didn't do.

"Come on," Jaina said suddenly, grabbing his hand and pulling him over towards the table.

"Hey – what? We don't want to go nearer to them!"

"You can have some more cake, and I can check what's going on."

"Ah. Cake. Got you."

And sure enough, when Jaina and Kyp reached the table, Mara pulled Jaina aside to speak to her. Kyp glanced at her, but Mara just glared at him again and he quickly moved over to the cake, cutting himself another slice.

"Jaina."

"Aunt Mara," Jaina replied cheerily, "Jace. What's up?"

"Er – Hi sis." Jacen glanced sideways at Mara, who looked at him pointedly. "I'm – uh – going to go find Danni now. Speak to you later."

"Bye," Jaina said as Jacen walked away briskly, over to Danni and Tahiri. "So," she said, turning back to her aunt, "what's the problem?"

"You and Durron. I thought that was over – what's going on?"

Jaina pulled a face, and then grinned again, although her good mood was vanishing rapidly. "Me and Kyp? Oh – well, it is, kind of."

Mara just looked at her.

"We're not – together again, like you mean. No."

"He's certainly keeping close to you today though."

"We just haven't seen each other for a long time… There's nothing in it. Stop worrying about me, Aunt Mara! Everything's fine." Jaina tried to make her voice reassuring, but Mara wasn't convinced.

But instead of arguing further, she only offered Jaina a wry smile. "Just watch yourself, then."

"Mm," Jaina agreed quietly as Mara wandered away, over to Luke and Leia.

"So." Kyp appeared beside her suddenly and she jumped. She mock-glared at him until he looked suitably abashed, and then smiled.

"Well, what was that about?"

"Oh," Jaina started casually, "she was just…" She sighed. "Worried."

"About her niece hanging around with the nasty, bad Rogue Jedi, huh?"

Jaina grinned. "Yeah, I think that was it."

He nodded. "And rightly so. I can be pretty bad sometimes. As I'm sure you know." He smirked at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Kyp." She suddenly noticed the plate in his hand and stared at it for a second. "Did you think to leave some cake for everyone else?"

Kyp flushed slightly and glanced down at his plate. "It's not that much…"

"So you like the cake then, huh?" Jaina grinned as Tahiri's voice made Kyp jump, and then turn round to see who it was.

"Oh – uh, yeah, it's great. Well done."

"Thanks. It's one of my more conventional talents, I think." Tahiri looked past Kyp to Jaina. "OK there, Jaina? Haven't seen you all day."

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine. How about you? Sekot being good to you?"

Tahiri pulled a face, but nodded. "Most of the time. Have to spend an unfortunate amount of time south side, but yeah, it's been OK."

Jaina frowned slightly. "Why is that such a bad thing for you?"

"Oh, it wouldn't be, but Harrar insists on a warrior guard escorting me the whole time. Seriously, every single second there. It's a wonder I ever get anything done."

Jaina smiled sympathetically, and shook her head. "I'm sure it's supposed to be some kind of honour."

"Yeah, it is, but it's so annoying." Tahiri sighed, and then smiled. "Anyway, nice seeing you again. And you too of course, Kyp."

"Uh – yeah." Kyp watched as Tahiri walked back to Jacen and Danni. He turned back to Jaina, his eyes wide. "I think that's the most she's ever said to me."

Jaina laughed quietly. "It's cause I'm with you. You seem more human."

"I'm serious, she always seems slightly afraid to talk to me."

"Everyone's afraid to talk to you, Kyp. In fact, everyone's afraid of you period; they're scared to say anything in case you decide they're an enemy." She tried to smile, to make the words less serious.

Kyp pulled a face to show she succeeded. "You aren't," he pointed out.

"No, I'm not," she agreed. "But that's because I know you're really just a big softy at heart," she joked, nudging him.

"Ah." He smirked and suddenly slipped his arms round her, pulling her into a hug. She shivered slightly, reminded of how often he had done that before, and his voice was low and suggestive in her ear. "I think you need reminding of how much I am definitely not a big softy."

Jaina laughed, embarrassed, and tried to nudge him again, but he was holding her too tightly. "Stop it, Kyp."

He paused, seeming to consider this for a moment, and then tightened his grip. "No."

She sighed and stopped struggling, leaning back into him and smiling. "Well then, just look out for yourself." She nodded over to her parents, aunt and uncle, who were looking over at her and Kyp. Han and Leia seemed slightly confused, Luke had an amused expression on his face, and Mara was glaring at the two of them, her green eyes narrow slits.

Kyp glanced over and quickly let go of Jaina. "OK, Sticks, you win this round. Even you're not worth facing the wrath of Mara Jade for."

"Hey!" She nudged him again. "I don't know whether to be happy or offended."

Kyp thought about it for a second. "Probably both."

Jaina nodded ruefully. "Yeah." She sighed and pushed past Kyp. "Suppose I should get another piece of cake while there's still some left," she said, and grinned back at him.

He shook his head and followed her, trying not to feel Mara's eyes on him the whole time.