"Jati, sele entri vou?" Sieren tugged on his tunic.

Jacen fumbled with the scancard in his hand, trying to balance Keil with one arm.

Keil was in no way cooperating, screaming and squirming enough that Jacen seriously wondered if he was going to drop him.

"Jati!" Sieren was becoming insistent.

The server behind the counter tried to hide her knowing smile as she punched a command into the device at her fingertips to balance his scancard and handed him his tray of food.

Jacen had yet to figure out what extra hand he was going to use to carry it.

"Jati!" she was pulling so hard, he thought his arm might come off.

"Ok, ok, hold on." He stared at the tray on the counter, shuffling Keil from one arm to the other.

"Need some help, mama?"

Jacen turned, relief washing over him.

Tahiri was smirking.

"I'll even let you call me that if you'll take him." Jacen bargained, desperately holding Keil out to her.

Tahiri grinned and took the wailing baby.

Jacen turned back to the counter and picked up the tray.

"What in the world did you feed this child to give him such a yell?" Tahiri grumbled, bouncing Keil in an attempt to quiet him as she followed Jacen to a table.

"Don't look at me," Jacen held up his hands, "Jaina fed him last night."

Tahiri lifted the baby to her shoulder, rubbing his back. "Poor baby. Aunt Jaina fed you? No wonder your tummy hurts."

Jacen choked on his forkful of katchin.

"Careful, " he warned, handing Sieren her bowl, "don't give him any bad impressions of my sister. If she's going to help me at all with the kids while she's here, I can't have them thinking she's a monster on the loose."

"Never said anything of the kind." Tahiri continued rubbing Keil's back as she picked up a pashi cake off the tray and took a bite.

Jacen froze, a look of betrayal on his face. "That was mine."

Tahiri shrugged, grinning. "Small price to pay for all that I do for you."

Jacen grumbled under his breath.

"All right, Sieren, what did you want?"

Sieren pointed across the room at a shelf of sugar-crusted dried fruits.

"Sieren, honey," Jacen tried to explain, "I already paid. How about some pashi?"

"No." It was one word that seemed to be universal.

Jacen sighed. "Ok. What do you want? That's already on our tray." He amended when she started to point back to the display.

She considered this for a moment before pointing hesitantly at his katchin.

"This?" Jacen asked, his hopes sinking.

Sieren just stared pitifully at the bowl.

Jacen sighed. "Here," he handed it to her. "You can have it."

Sieren looked up at him in surprise. She shook her head and pointed at him.

Jacen repeated the gesture. "No. It's ok. You take it." He pushed the bowl back at her.

Sieren just looked at him for a moment before finally taking the bowl from him.

Tahiri was watching him with a smile.

"What?" Jacen finally noticed.

Tahiri just smiled. "Nothing." She shifted Keil. "So, what are you doing today?"

Jacen sighed heavily. "Well, we were going to go over to Blue Leaf, but now I think maybe I'll just take these two back to our quarters and take a long nap." He grimaced. "Before I have to think about dinner."

Tahiri laughed. "Do you know what you need, Jacen?"

"No." Jacen didn't even try to guess. "What?"

Tahiri reached across the table and plunked Keil down in his lap. "A wife." She stood.

Jacen watched, gape-mouthed as she walked away. "Ok." he muttered. "That was interesting."

Keil picked that moment to whimper.

"Oh no." Jacen looked down at him. "You're not going to cry, are you?"

The baby's lip trembled, his eyes filling as he looked back at Jacen.

"Please." Jacen begged. "Don't cry."

Keil's only response was to upgrade his whimper into a full-blown wail.

"Great." Jacen groaned, bouncing the baby desperately. "Si, are you almost done?"

The little girl stared at him, her mouth full of food.

"I'm going to take that as an 'almost'." Jacen decided out loud. "Hurry, I don't know how long it will be before security decide to kick us out of the Academy for disturbing the peace."

Sieren stared uncomprehendingly, frowning as she chewed slowly.

"Hurry." Jacen repeated, standing.

Sieren swallowed the last bite and followed him out of the cafeteria.

"Ok," Jacen spoke softly to Keil as they walked towards their quarters. "We're almost home, and then you can have a nice long nap." He threw him up into the air and caught him, producing a laugh. "You like naps, don't you?" he kissed the baby's cheek. "Well, it doesn't really matter. Daddy likes long naps."

Sieren muttered something in disagreement.

"Yes, Si," Jacen grinned, " I know you don't like naps. If you just want to quietly look at your books, that's fine."

Sieren nodded, finding this acceptable.

Jacen turned the last corner before their complex, vaguely wondering what was nagging him.

"Hey, Si, watch him for a second." he set Keil down. The baby simply leaned back against the wall and watched his sister with wide-eyed fascination.

Jacen keyed in the security code and pressed his thumb to the bioscanner.

The door swished open almost immediately, bringing with it a blast of cooler air and the sound of the comm.

Jacen didn't notice.

He stared in horror at the images in front of him.

"Oh stars." He breathed. "No, Sieren!" he whirled, catching her before she could run into the room. He pushed her up against the wall and fired a round of shots into the room before slamming the door-close command on the security pad.

He picked up Keil, who was once again making his protests at loud noise known. "Come on." He said to Sieren, roughly grabbing her hand and taking off down the hall.

"Ri," he picked up his commlink, fumbling with the on switch in his rush, "change of plans. Are you in your room?'

"Yeah." Tahiri's voice came on the channel.

"Good. Stay there."

"Jacen? Where are you?"

"In the hall outside your quarters." Jacen said hurriedly, turning a corner. "I need you to take the kids for me."

"Ok. Why?" she sounded bewildered.

"I can't tell you right now. Can you open the door?"

His reply was a door down the hall hissing open.

Tahiri appeared in the doorway, commlink in hand, a frown on her face.

"Thanks." Jacen handed Keil to her and practically shoved Sieren into the room. "I have to hurry. Go inside and shut the door."

Tahiri's frown deepened. "Jacen? What in all the nine hells-"

"Not now." Jacen interrupted her. "Just do it. Go inside, lock the door, and have your lightsaber close by. Please, Ri, just do as I say."

With that, he turned and ran back down the hall.

Tahiri stared after him a moment before backing into her room and slamming the door.