Last time: The Twins and Cien went shopping.

Now: Viran, Sasha and Lana prep for their trip.

Chapter 7- Anxiety Attack

"And that's the last of it," Viran said with a satisfied smile as he wiped his hands. He had just finished loading up the Forerunner with everything they needed to take with them to the beach. From their personal items to beach toys and towels, but also their winter gear as Kyr suggested the idea of hiking up the icey volcano. Viran was all for that idea, but he was sure that Sasha might object to the idea of hiking after Myrkr. But he packed her gear just in case as well as Lana's. And of course, everything they needed for Lana, including her portable crib which was a smaller and easily foldable version of her actual crib.

Doing one last check to make sure everything was accounted for, Viran made his way to the ramp of the ship where he was hoping Sasha would be with Lana as they needed to get going. But neither of them were there. He walked over to the door that led into the house and opened it.

"Sasha! Ship's loaded up, hun! Let's go!" He called out into the house.

There was no response.

Viran furrowed his brow in confusion at that and made his way inside. He headed upstairs to the main living area and looked around for his wife and daughter. "Sasha, where are you?" He called out again.

Again nothing. He could sense her still in the house. And from what the Force was telling him, she was up in Lana's room. So Viran headed that way next to check for them. Reaching Lana's room, Viran gently placed a knock against the door.

"Sash?" He asked gently. "It's time to go."

"Okay, just give me a minute," Sasha said from the other side.

Viran raised a curious brow at what she could be doing. Opening the door, he peeked inside the room to find Sasha on the floor of Lana's room looking under the crib. Viran snorted at the sight especially as Lana was trying to mimic what her mother was doing.

"What are you doing?" He asked, amused.

"I'm trying to find Lana's doll," Sasha said, a slight irritation to her voice. "She won't travel without it. And she doesn't know where it is."

Lana sat up at that and looked at Viran with big, tear filled eyes as she wanted her dolly.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I've already packed it. Dolly is safe," Viran said, in a comforting tone as he came over and scooped Lana up from the floor into his arms.

"Safe?" Lana asked in a sad, but still incredibly cute voice.

Viran chuckled. "Yes, safe and sound. Waiting for you, kiddo."

Lana giggled at that, feeling instantly better.

Sasha sat up at that and looked at him. Her expression was a mix of bewilderment, of being impressed, and confusion. "When did you do that?"

"I used that list you put together a few days ago of everything we need," Viran explained as he pulled the list out of his pocket. "I even double checked it. And on the very top of Lana's list of items was her doll, who is currently waiting for her in her booster seat on the ship."

Sasha blinked at that. "Oh wow… Viran, I'm impressed," she said, practically speechless. "We nearly tore this whole room apart looking for it."

"Sorry, I should have told you sooner," Viran said.

"It's okay," Sasha said, relieved. "I'm just glad it's not missing. Otherwise, we might have to make a detour at the shop where you first got the doll. And a very upset toddler."

"Yeah, it wouldn't be much fun if Dolly couldn't join us, huh?" Viran said, speaking in a baby-like voice to Lana.

"No fun," Lana agreed with a shake of her head.

Sasha chuckled at that.

Viran smiled down at her. "Well, you ready to go?" He asked her.

Sasha smiled at him, a little nervously, but still nodded. "Yeah, that was the last thing."

"Excellent, let's get this show on the road," Viran beamed as he moved her chair closer to her for her to get back in it.

Like always, Sasha hesitated at first before climbing into the hover chair. Once she was settled, she looked up at Viran and gestured for the door. "Lead the way."

"I need to go set the security system before we go," Viran said as he adjusted Lana. "Why don't you two head for the ship and I'll meet you there?"

Sasha swallowed at that before nodding. She opened her arms to take Lana. Viran handed his daughter over to Sasha, who immediately settled on her lap like she was going for a ride. As much as Sasha hated the chair, she lit up like a star whenever Lana sat with her on it. Viran couldn't tell if that was because she enjoyed having Lana with her and spending time with her or because the toddler thought it was a ride and Sasha could make a game of it. Or both. He couldn't quite tell, but it was the only time he actually could see Sasha enjoying herself in the chair. Viran leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Sasha's forehead.

"It'll be okay," he whispered to her, reassuringly.

Sasha looked up at him on that, a nervous look passing across her face. "Okay," she said, timidness in her voice.

With that, Viran watched her leave Lana's bedroom worriedly. He was really hoping this trip would be just what the doctor ordered and help Sasha get through all of this. But still seeing her like this was hard on him. He followed her out of the room and into the main living area of the house. He then split off towards the security system to make sure the house was all locked up tight once they were gone. When he got there, he started locking everything up. Normally, Tac or QT would do this before they left from abroad the ship, but since both of them were still bickering aboard the Shadow Runner when the others left, that left Viran to manually lock everything up. As he did so, he noticed Sasha enter into the hangar on one of the monitors. He paused for a moment as he noticed her stop at the base of the Forerunner. He could sense in the Force how anxious she was and the panic that was starting to set in. That wasn't good.

Flipping the last switch for the lock up sequence, Viran rushed from the security room and ran through the house, narrowly dodging any furniture in his way as he hurried to the hangar. As soon as the door slid open, he ran straight for the ship and Sasha. When he got to her side, he could see she was already breathing heavily and shaking in the chair. Lana was looking at her mom, worriedly, as she wasn't sure what was happening.

"Dada?" Lana spoke up as he knelt down in front of Sasha.

"It's okay Lana," Viran assured his daughter before looking at his wife's face.

Sasha was staring up at the ship, a look of fear in her eyes. Viran grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly.

"Sasha, look at me," Viran demanded, gently. She did as he asked. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. There is nothing to fear, alright? You know this ship. This is our original home. We grew up on this ship. We are safe aboard it. And I will do everything in my power to keep it that way. Okay?" She didn't answer him verbally, but she did nod. "Look, I know you are scared to leave the house where you know it's safe. But we are going to a place where no one can bother us. It'll just be the three of us and the rest of the family. And we're gonna have so much fun. Just close your eyes and imagine that beach setting. The smell of the water. The warm summer air. The feeling of sand between your toes. Just picture that and it'll be okay, okay?"

Sasha closed her eyes and pictured it, just as he suggested. After a second, the panic inside of her calmed down and she relaxed. "Thank you," she said sincerely as she opened her eyes after a moment.

"Of course, love," Viran said, flashing her a gentle smile. "Now let's go."

He stood up, letting go of her hands, and came around the other side of her. He grabbed the handles of her chair and pushed the two of them up into the ship. Once on board, Viran let Sasha strap Lana into her chair where, in fact, the doll sat waiting for her. As soon as the toddler was settled, clutching the doll tightly with a huge smile on her face, Viran helped Sasha into the copilot's seat before stowing her hover chair away in the back of the cockpit. With both girls settled, Viran smiled as he took his seat and started up the engines. After a few moments, the ship left the hangar and flew up towards the atmosphere just as the security system kicked in and closed the hangar behind them.

As they entered the orbit of the planet, Viran plugged in the coordinates to their destination and looked at the two loves of his life with a large grin on his face. "Showtime ladies," he said before pulling the levers back and sending them into hyperspace.

The gentle ocean waves washed up on the shore against the backdrop of the glorious sunset, and the cool breeze blew over the site they had chosen to make their camp. It was around the same area where Cien and Kyr came whenever they had visited, either in real life or in the mindspace. Cien smiled slightly looking around the spot. She had changed into comfortable beach clothes, a loose blouse and skirt instead of her flight suit and armor. Kyr was down to just his flight suit, but Cien had gotten the impression it might have been more for the sake of comfort rather than him being discomforted by wearing the armor.

It was a gorgeous sight, she was always surprised by how beautiful it was when she visited, her memories, oddly, never seeming to do it justice. She hoped she would never become so inured as to not have it surprise her anymore. Especially at this time of day, as twilight set in. Above the stars were just starting to show, and the flicking aurorae were making their presence known, as was the nebula that was at just the right distance to make such a beautiful backdrop across the sky.

"No, Tac we need the plugging-in side, not the, uh… plug-in side." Kyr said, as Tac dragged the extension cords over from the ship.

Cien was watching a little mystified by Kyr stringing the Life Day lights all around the support struts of the pavilion tent and also strung between the poles in the interior so they formed a canopy inside the tent over the large dining table. Op was over at the bonfire trying to ignore Kyr and Tac as he got some dinner started for them, after they had just finished erecting the pavilion tent as well as the three other tents that would serve as their private sleeping quarters. Cien had no idea what she was looking at as he strung the small, inefficient strand of lights seemingly haphazardly around the tent poles.

QT was sitting next to her, also looking at the display a little mystified. Cien wasn't sure what the small droid was thinking, but had the distinct impression that if she had a neck, her small dome would have been cocked to the side in confusion. She whistled questioningly and rotated her dome to look at Cien.

She glanced down at her small datapad to look at the translation. "No, Kyr said he wanted to do it himself."

QT's dome rotated to look at Kyr arguing with Tac and then back to Cien with a little chortle.

Cien almost laughed at the translation. "Well, does it look like Tac is being any help?"

QT considered the question for a moment, and whistled, and Cien didn't have to consult the translation to hear the negative in the tone.

"Kyr," she said, stepping forward as he stood a little dangerously on a ladder. "Are you sure you don't want some help cyar'riduur?"

"Yeah, I got it." He said as he overextended a little much to try to hook the lights around.

Cien looked at her husband about to fall off a ladder and the lights that seemed very haphazard. A part of her desperately wanted to start straightening the strings as they wound up the struts so that the spacing would be even, at least. "Are they supposed to be like this?" She asked him.

"Like what?" He said, his concentration still on trying to not have to move the ladder as he extended his arm out further and it shifted slightly.

Cien tried to find the right word. "As… organically arranged as this?" She finally settled on. The unevenness of the tight spirals was grating on her more than it should.

"Yeah, it's part of the charm." He said, finally hooking the light strand and settling back on the ladder. "You can fix as needed though." He said, recognizing the look she got from when something was out of place in their room and it made her brain itchy and It Needed To Be Fixed.

She had already started pulling the taught strings so that they were more precisely spaced.

After several minutes of Cien spacing the lights, and Tac trundling along the sand, complaining the whole way, they were finally at a point where they could plug it in. Op stopped his preparations and came over to stand with Cien and Kyr as he got ready to finally switch the lights on. Already night had descended, with just the final bit of twilight on the horizon as the sky displayed the heavens in all their glory.

"Okay, this is it." Kyr triumphantly plugged the light strands in and… nothing happened. He paused for a moment before grousing. "Gotta be a loose bulb or something somewhere." He said as he went forward to start looking for the offender.

"We're going to be up late, aren't we?" Oppie asked her quietly.

"Yes." Cien said.

QT whistled something at her side.

"Yes, we can still see fine, it's just to make things more festive." Oppie answered.

She whistled a shrug and went to go find Tac to let him know of a more efficient way she had found to keep the sand from getting everywhere by modifying their wheel speed.

"Want any help with dinner?" Cien asked Oppie. She wasn't sure what help she could provide but she could at least loom over him instead of Kyr for a little while.

"Sure, want to make a chili sauce?" He asked.

She blinked slightly. "Uh… sure?" She said.

"Just remember not all of us were raised at a Sith temple so keep the spice level down." He said with a smirk as they went back to the fire where he had setup an erstwhile kitchen for this evening. It was supposed to be in the pavilion tent but Kyr was busy with the lights, still.

"Kyr never complains." She said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Oppie said trailing off. Tac and QT were starting to argue again, since Tac had devised his own way of dealing with the sand that was just slightly, slightly different from QT's. "This is going to be a lot of fun." Oppie said, looking at the beautiful beach around them and the night sky above with a smile.

"Yeah." Cien said with her own smile.

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