Last time: Cien and Sasha relax in the spa.

Now: Cien tells the others what she thinks is scaring Sasha.

Chapter 5- Let's Go on Vacation

"Really?" Kyr asked Cien, looking at her a little incredulously.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind some." She replied, sitting at the counter in the kitchen.

"When did you start drinking caf?" He asked her, giving her a strange look.

"I kind of liked it when you gave me some on the Shadow, I thought I'd try some more. We were up late last night." She reminded him.

"M'okay." Kyr said, setting the caf machine to make an extra cup along with his.

Oppie was cooking eggs and smiled a little while listening to their banter. "Make that three, I'll go ahead and try some."

Kyr looked between the two strangers in the kitchen with him with a suspicious cast. Then he shrugged, setting the dial for a third cup.

Viran walked in with Lana in his arms, heading straight for the fridge to grab her a bottle. He looked at all of them. "Morning," he greeted.

"Hey Sport, want some caf?" Kyr asked.

"I'm alright," Viran said with a smirk as he opened the fridge.

"Is Sasha still in bed?" Cien asked Viran.

"Yeah," Viran said as he grabbed a bottle for Lana before bumping the fridge door closed with his hip. "She got to bed late last night and actually had a restful night of sleep. I thought I'd let her sleep longer."

"I…" She started, "she and I went into the mindspace to relax after her therapy yesterday, something strange happened." She said as Kyr sat in the stool next to her, and set a cup of steaming caf in front of her and she reached for it.

"Oh?" Viran asked as he set Lana in her high chair before going over to warm up her bottle.

Cien took a sip and looked at the drink a little confused, and Kyr pushed a little jar of sugar towards her, and she started scooping some in. "We spent some time in the house playing a game for a long time, and Sasha seemed to be in very good spirits, especially after she got disheartened at the end of her therapy session." She said, stirring the coffee a bit to dissolve the sugar and taking a sip, much better. "We were in the house the whole time though, and we were going to step outside and." She paused for a second, grimacing. "Dracul, Ikari and," she glanced at Kyr, "others were there. When we ran, the bounty hunters were there at the back door. I think it was from Sasha, and I think it was a manifestation of what she fears is outside the house if she ever leaves." She said, taking another sip with a grimace at the thought.

Oppie looked over at her. "Do you think that might be why she's… hesitant to get better?" He asked worriedly.

"I think it may be." Cien said.

Viran frowned as he grabbed the now warm bottle from the heater. He stood there for a moment looking at it. "I never considered that Sasha might be afraid to leave the house," he said softly.

"Bah," Lana said from her high chair as she wanted her bottle.

Viran came out of his daze and walked over to give it to her. She took the bottle and started drinking it as he grabbed her breakfast from the pantry. As soon as he got the baby food, he sat down at the table and looked at Cien and the others. "What should we do?"

"I'm not quite sure." Cien said, and paused for a moment as she took another sip of caf. "We talked about a lot yesterday afternoon. We avoided anything about what happened, anything stressful. But we did talk about leaving the house. She seemed excited about the idea of going to the beach." She said thoughtfully.

"The beach?" Kyr asked, looking between Op and Viran, "like a vacation?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Viran said with a nod as he fed Lana. "But how exactly do you plan to get her out of the house? If she really is that afraid to leave, it won't be easy to get her out of here. But," he groaned, "why is she so afraid? I understand what happened was scary, but I'm just trying to understand what's going through her mind. I've tried to get her to talk to me about it, but she just closes up." He said dejectedly as he continued to feed Lana.

"I don't think she knew." Cien said carefully, "I'm not completely sure. If she didn't speak to you of it, I'm sure it's just because she didn't know. I only knew because everyone that's ever attacked her was waiting outside the doors." She grimaced and was grateful that some version of her hadn't been outside the house.

"I guess," Viran said, frowning. "But what's your plan to get her out of here? Or do we need to come up with one?"

"I'm not quite sure." Cien said, taking another sip.

Oppie finally spoke, "on Myrkr, she and I joked about that a little, going on a vacation once we were home. She just wanted to get home, though, and so did I." He said quietly. "But I'm not quite sure how we might convince her to leave if we can't even convince her to walk a few meters to be able to finish a therapy session." He said with some pain in his voice.

Viran looked at Oppie at that and his frown deepened. He sat back in his chair trying to think of something as Lana drank from her bottle, contently.

"Well, if the rest of us go someplace then I can't imagine she'd stay." Kyr said, "getting her out of the house and showing her that it's still safe out there might be best." He glanced at his wife, "and if we wanted to do a family vacation to the beach I'm game."

Viran slowly nodded. "That might be the best idea. As much as she would be afraid to leave, I could see her being afraid to be alone too. Better to be with all of us somewhere else than no one here," he mumbled that last part to himself. "Alright. I'm game too."

"When do we want to do this?" Oppie asked.

"I've got no plans next week." Kyr said with a shrug.

"I think the sooner the better," Viran said. "She needs this as much as the rest of us do. Next week sounds good to me."

Kyr was thoughtful for a moment before he turned to Cien. "I think you and I should go sooner, do a little shopping and get some supplies to make it a proper vacation. When it's just us, sleeping under the stars and eating pre-cooked stuff is fine. But if we're doing a proper family vacation we can spruce it up a bit."

Cien blushed a little at his description in front of Op and Viran, "yeah that sounds good."

"I might go with you guys to help, if you want?" Oppie suggested.

"Yeah, that would be good, you can help us grocery shop." Kyr said good naturedly.

"Then I can arrive later with Sasha and Lana," Viran said as he slowly nodded, liking this idea. He then looked at Lana. "What do you think, kiddo? Wanna go to the beach?"

"Ye," Lana answered with a giggle.

Viran smiled at that.

Oppie walked out of the kitchen, into the living room. He was a little excited to be going on a vacation, he had never really been able to go on such an outing before. Everything had always been work related or some other reason for leaving the house. The underlying reason though, Sasha's troubled spirit, gnawed at him, and he couldn't help but be drawn back to that thought, as he invariably had been drawn to it over the last two days since he had last spoken to Sasha as she left the exercise room.

Speaking of her, Sasha came around the corner from the hallway, into the living room. She came to a stop when she saw him, a look of hesitation on her face when she did.

Clearing her throat, she said quietly, "morning." She then moved her chair to pass him towards the kitchen.

He also came to a stop. "Hey Sash, how are you feeling?" He asked carefully.

Sasha slowed to a stop right near him as she headed for the kitchen. "I'm okay," she said, keeping her gaze down.

"I am sorry I was pushing so hard." He said guiltily, as he tried to figure out if she would be more comfortable if he kept walking.

"You don't need to apologize. You were doing what you were supposed to do to help me," Sasha said softly. "I should apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have acted like that towards you. I'm sorry, Op."

"It's okay Sasha, you have nothing to apologize to me for." He said, looking away. "We just finished making breakfast, and there is some for you."

"Thank you," Sasha said looking up at him. "But Op… I am really sorry about everything. My behavior and not talking to you these past couple days and everything." She added, her voice heavy with guilt.

"I'm sorry too, and I was making sure to give you space as well, so I am sorry for that." He said.

"It's okay," Sasha said. "I'm not mad or anything like that. I could never be mad at you. And after yesterday with Cien, I am feeling better. But I still wanted to make sure I apologized to you before things became more strained between us. I don't want that." She looked at him. "I need my brother in all of this."

Oppie looked at her, "I'm here for whatever you need, you're still my little sister and it's my job above all else to be here for you." He stated.

"I know and I'm grateful for that," Sasha said, giving him a small smile and holding her hand out to him.

Oppie stepped forward and took her hand with a small smile of his own. "Viran and Lana are still in the kitchen, they have a surprise that I hope might be nice for you." He said.

"For me?" Sasha asked, confused but also intrigued. "What is it?"

"Well if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise." He said lightly as he let go over her hand.

Sasha chuckled lightly at that. "Alright, fair. I guess I'll go find out," she said. "And thank you, Oppie. For everything."

"You're welcome. I am off to go see if I have a swim suit." He said with a slight smirk as he started walking away.

Sasha gave him a strange look at that, even more confused as to what he was talking about. She then turned her attention forward and made her way into the kitchen.

"Morning," she greeted everyone else when she entered who just happened to be Viran and Lana. There was no sign of Kyr or Cien. But to be fair it was mid morning and she had slept in, so they had probably already went to get ready for the day and get to work on whatever they had planned.

"Morning hun," Viran greeted her from the kitchen table with a smile.

"Mama," Lana squeaked as she waved at her from her high chair, her little face covered in baby food.

"You need a bath, kiddo," Sasha said with a giggle as she pulled up to the table where a still warm plate of breakfast sat waiting for her.

"Don't worry, I was planning to give her one after I finished up," Viran said as he took one of the last bites of food from his plate.

"I can give her one," Sasha said as she started digging in.

"Are you sure?" Viran asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You've been doing such an amazing job taking care of her and I want to spend some time with her," Sasha said wistfully as she ate.

"If you're sure," Viran said, a little uncertain but definitely glad to see Sasha in better spirits.

"So Oppie told me you guys have a surprise for me," Sasha brought up after a few moments of silent eating.

"Ah he did, did he?" Viran answered with a smirk. "Well he is correct. We do have a surprise for you."

"Oh? Are you going to tell me or leave me in suspense?" Sasha asked before she took a drink of her juice.

"We were all thinking of getting out of the house next week and going to that beach planet Kyr and Cien have gone to for a family vacation," Viran told her, smiling.

Sasha nearly spat her juice out as she sputtered. "What?"

Viran handed her a napkin as he looked at her worriedly. "What? You don't like the idea?"

She didn't answer at first as she cleaned herself and the table from where she spilt a little bit of juice. "No, it's not that. It sounds like fun. It's just…" She hesitated and looked down at her lap.

"Cien told me what happened yesterday in the mindspace," Viran said after a moment. "I think I know what's going on. And after everything that has happened, I get it. You're scared and that's fine."

"I'm not scared. I'm fine," Sasha said, but her tone and everything he had heard from the others betrayed her.

"You can't fool me, love," Viran said. He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Look, this trip is meant to be relaxing and fun. We are going someplace safe and where no one can bother us. We will have a whole beach to ourselves. And you'll be surrounded by family the whole time." He paused as he squeezed her hand tightly. "We are not forcing you to go. We just thought you would enjoy it. But I would love it if you came with us and I know Lana would too."

Lana giggled in that moment as she chewed on her child sized spoon that was made of plastic. That made Sasha smile, which made Viran smile.

She then looked at Viran and sighed. "I want to go. I just...I'm afraid of what will happen if I do leave the house," she admitted.

"There's nothing to be afraid of when you have a Jedi for a husband and a brother. A Sith for a sister, and a Mandalorian for a brother," Viran said with a smirk. She smiled lightly at that. "It'll be okay. I promise you."

Sasha still looked uncertain as she thought about all of this. The images from the mindspace flashed through her mind of the bounty hunters and the other foes she had faced suddenly appearing just outside their door. She tried to suppress a grimace as she realized that if she stayed behind while the others went was almost worse than actually having the courage to leave the house again. Swallowing her fear, she looked Viran in the eye.

"When do we leave?" She asked.

The emotion in her voice told him two things. One that she was actually excited in some capacity to go to the beach. The other was that he was right. That she would be more afraid to be alone than to leave the house. And Viran was never going to leave her alone. But he couldn't let her see what he was thinking, so he just beamed at her response.

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