Chapter Two

I was dead.

Or at least I felt like it. My head was ready to explode, and the searing pain in my chest had me groaning in agony.

"Good. You're awake."

I opened my eyes to see a blurry image hovering over me, and even though I couldn't see clearly yet, I knew exactly who it was.

"Jaina," I rasped...and then it all came flooding back to me. I bolted up quickly only to have the pain shoot right through the rest of my body.

"Whoa...take it easy, Kyp," she said placing her small hands on my bare chest to steady me and ease me back down on the bed. "Let me see that burn," she instructed as she began tenderly touching my hot skin. Didn't remember when my shirt came off...but I did remember something.

"You—you shot me!" I yelled pushing her hand away forcefully and nearly passed out from the excruciating pain in my head.

"Will you settle down. It was only a stun blast," she explained calmly like it was no big deal. Then she moved to resume her nursing duties.

My vision was clearing and I blinked a few times to finish the job. "Only a stun blast?! Are you nuts?! What the hell were you thinking?!" I slapped a hand to my aching head again and groaned. I really needed to stop shouting for my own good, but her nonchalance about this whole shooting thing was really ticking me off.

She carefully applied a bacta patch to the stun burn on my chest and the added pain reliever immediately went to work. While she put her supplies away, I began to relax and leaned back on the propped up pillows.

"It was for your own good, Kyp. I saved you from making a big mistake." She returned to my bedside and smiled sweetly. "Trust me. You'll thank me for this later. Here. Drink this." She placed a cup of something cold and liquid in my hands and like a fool I drank it down without asking what it was.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What big mistake? And where are you taking me?" I took a look around and knew we were on Jaina's ship, the Jedi Sabre, and I could tell we were moving through hyperspace, but I had not a clue where we might be headed.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So many questions," she remarked in a motherly tone pulling the thin blanket back up over me. "Surely you know what I was saving you from---or should I say whom I was saving you from?" I noticed a flash of utter disgust in her eyes, but she quickly shrugged it off. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about where we're going just yet. What you need right now is to lie back and get some rest. Let that bacta patch work its magic, and then...we'll have a nice, long talk."

The woman was treating me like a child, and I was too stunned to fight back. Or maybe it was whatever she slipped into that drink. Then she did something even more unexpected. She kissed me...one of those slow, delectable kisses that sends your senses into instant overload and thrusts every other thought straight out of your mind, and I couldn't help but kiss right back. My mind was definitely not on our destination, and she knew it...knew exactly what she was doing.

After a few more seconds of her tantalizing lips tasting mine, she slowly pulled away and moaned. "Mmmm...that was nice," she whispered in a husky breath.

And like an idiot, I just sat there and watched her as she licked her sweet, seductive lips, not sure whether to throttle her or throw her down and...well, you get the picture. Sweet Force! What was this woman doing to me?

Finally, I was able to form words.

"I take it that was necessary, too?" I said, trying to sound angry, but failing miserably. I squinted my eyes and tried to focus. Surely there weren't two of her? No, it had to be the meds.

Her face broke into the famous Solo grin as she leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "Absolutely."

I gulped and fought back the urge to grab her again. That look in her eyes was dangerous, I knew, but I had never seen that particular brand of intensity directed at me.

"Don't worry, Kyp. I'm going to take real good care of you," she promised with a little tap on the tip of my nose. Next, she patted my shoulder and then walked to the door, turning to add a warning. "So don't bother trying to open the door. It'll be locked." The door slid shut just as she smiled and offered a little wave.

I fought against the dizziness in my head and leaned back to stare up at the ceiling. What in the world was going on? Jaina Solo was the only person alive who was capable of so completely confounding me, and right now I was so clueless it wasn't funny. With a sigh, I tried to remember how it had all gone so horribly wrong. I mean, a woman doesn't just shoot a guy, hijack him to Force knows where, and then kiss his lips off... does she? I was no expert on females, but I didn't think that was the typical procedure.

But then Jaina was not a typical woman. I chuckled and shook my head. That was an understatement. Her unpredictability was one of the things that had drawn me to her all those years ago. Even as a kid, I'd been impressed with her straight-forward, practical approach to life. You never had to wonder what she was thinking since she was happy to share her opinion whether you wanted to hear it or not.

Well...except for now. I would have given anything to know what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.

As Jaina got older, some people thought her a bit arrogant and brash. I simply saw a girl who was comfortable with herself and confident enough to say and take exactly what she wanted. Her flying ability was so unbelievably advanced that after seeing her fly Lando's Folly, I immediately offered her a place in my Dozen. She'd turned me down, as I assumed she would, but I liked her. She was a cute kid, a bit of a tomboy, but she was all about action and I could appreciate that.

Then when she tracked me down at Luke's request early in the Vong War, I started to see her a bit differently. The minute she jumped down out of her X-wing all rumpled in her flight suit, I realized she wasn't a little girl anymore. Oh, she was still totally off limits, mind you. Han Solo would have torn me limb from limb, but I couldn't help but admire the young woman she was blossoming into. Deceiving her about the worldship had nearly killed me. Seeing the look on her face when she realized what we'd really done...I deserved more than just the slap she gave me. It took all my restraint not to fall at her feet and beg her forgiveness.

But I was Kyp Durron. I didn't beg.

Somehow we managed to work out our differences and become the closest of friends...well, not the closest seeing as how we never took a step in the romance department. That thought flitted across my mind for all of about five seconds before I accepted that my role in her life was not the part of the hero lover. No, I was more like the faithful sidekick, and although it sometimes irked me to see her making goo-goo eyes at Jagged Fel, I got over it and learned to content myself with just being her friend.

And we had made a good team. Our relationship was one of the few true friendships I had ever had. Most of my life I'd been a bit of a loner. It seems I don't make friends too easily. Enemies...now that's no problem, but I have difficulty letting people get too close. Result of my chaotic childhood, I suppose, but Jaina saw past that. She accepted me for who I was---flaws and all. Of course, she was prone to point them out a little too often for my liking, but that was okay because I did the same for her. It was a give and take, but the problem was that I wanted to give and take more than she did.

So when she didn't contact me at all after that fated last dinner where she dumped me for Jag, I took it as a sign from the Force to move on with my life. Of course, it had taken almost a year for me to quit hoping for a message from her or to stop expecting her to just show up at my door right out of the blue.

But that's exactly what she had done.

I had been so shocked that I had forgotten Li'andra was even standing right beside me. She hadn't been happy about that in the least, but I couldn't help it. Seeing Jaina was...well, I can't really describe how it made me feel. Memories came flooding back, good and bad, but mostly I was just so unbelievably happy to see her standing in front of me. Such an important person had just walked back into my life, so how could I not be pleased?

We'd gone to dinner and talked about old times, and then suddenly she turned all serious and apologized. Jaina Solo apologized...to me...for treating me so awful and not seeing me for nearly five years. It was unexpectedly pleasant to have her there saying things I had longed to hear, and then to have her ask me to forgive her and be her friend again was just the icing on the cake. I had never stopped needing Jaina in my life.

Later, I volunteered to walk her back to her room. Denon was a very busy metropolis, almost as bad as old Coruscant had been, and an attractive young woman did not need to be out alone at night. She readily accepted and we soon found ourselves at her door.

"Thanks for dinner, Kyp," she said looking up at me with those big brown eyes. "It was great."

"You're very welcome," I replied with a slight bow. "And you're right. It was great."

A few seconds of awkward silence descended upon us, which was unusual in the past, but since her return a few hours earlier had become strangely common.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow at the Council meeting."

"Yeah, I'll be there with bells on," she said with a smile, and again the silence came.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go now," I said turning to leave, but a gentle hand on my arm stopped me.

"Kyp?" she said shyly.

"Yeah?"

"I really am sorry and I really have missed you," she confessed and then slid her arms around me to envelop me in a snug embrace. My arms dangled clumsily for a few seconds before wrapping around her petite frame. I wasn't used to much physical affection, especially coming from Jaina, so it took me a moment to relax into the position. But when I did, it felt really...satisfying. The top of her head fit perfectly underneath my chin, and so I rested it there.

"I've missed you, too, Jaina," I admitted, placing a quick kiss on her sweet-smelling hair. "And you don't have to keep apologizing. We're friends," I explained pulling back so I could look her in the face, "and I never stopped being yours."

The smile she graced me with and the unfamiliar look in her eyes should have been a warning, I suppose, looking back on it now, but at that moment I was simply happy having Jaina back in my life. I didn't think about any of the complications. In fact, I had no idea my life was about to take a walk on the wild side.

Luke Skywalker was not what he appeared, and I knew it.

On the surface, one might think he was shy, uncultured, and slightly ignorant. That front had served him well many times, but I knew him better than that. Oh, he was all of those things to a degree, and yet he was so much more. The inner workings of his mind baffled me. There wasn't a malicious bone in his body, which had bothered me during the war. However, now that I was getting older, I understood his reluctance to jump into battle without fully weighing all of the consequences first. Luke Skywalker always looked before he leaped.

And that is exactly why I knew he had finally lost his mind.

"You want me to what?" I exclaimed as I looked in shock at Luke and the other ten members of the Jedi Council as they stared back from their seats around the circular table. Jaina was also present and seated next to me, and I could feel through the Force her surprise reflecting my own.

I thought I saw a hint of amusement light in Luke's eyes, but he quelled it and steepled his fingers on the table in front of him.

"I want you to take over my position on the Council," he stated plainly, as if that were the most natural utterance to ever roll of his tongue.

"That's what I thought you said," I mumbled, and I heard Jaina stifling a chuckle next to me. I looked boldly at Luke and demanded, "Is this some kind of joke, Master Skywalker?"

Now Luke did laugh and shook his head. "No, Kyp. It's not a joke. The other members and I have discussed it at length and agreed that it should be you."

Wait...they had discussed it?...at length?...without me around? When had they done that?

"I'm sorry, Luke," I said reverting back to the familiarity of his first name, "but I just don't understand. You are the head of this Council."

Luke sighed and leaned back in his chair. Only then did I realize how old and worn he looked. Jaina had mentioned it at dinner the night before and expressed her sincere concern over her uncle. In the past few years since the war, he had grown almost frail and looked as old, if not older, than Han Solo. She and I both agreed that his war wound must be to blame for his rapid decline, those Yuuzhan Vong toxins still lurking within his body wreaking havoc. However, I hadn't really noticed it much since I saw him so often. Jaina, not immune to the gradual change in her uncle's appearance, confessed that she had been shocked when he greeted her at the spaceport upon her arrival on Denon.

"Kyp, I've dreamt of this Council since I was very young in the Force. Seeing it become a reality has been beyond my wildest imaginations, but I simply cannot continue on as I have been. I'm not able to." He paused for a moment before continuing on and I could feel the fear emanating from Jaina. "My illness has progressed more rapidly than I had hoped, and I find myself wanting to slow it down if at all possible. Mara and I have talked and the best way for that to happen is to cut back on my Council involvement. Oh, I'll still be around to consult and help out when I can, but the day to day activities are becoming too much of a strain. Maybe it's a bit selfish, but I'd like to see Ben grow up."

Many of the Council members shook their heads in understanding and I found myself doing the same. Even though I had no family, I understood its importance more than most having lost mine so long ago.

Luke began speaking again. "So, Kyp, I am offering my position to you."

"But why me?" I asked. "So many others are much more qualified and deserving." I looked around and noticed Cilghal and Kenth...both two very capable Jedi who were also much more respected than me.

"Yours is not to question why," Luke added lightly. "You are very qualified. You're a powerful Jedi, a born leader, and you have the experience of having survived the Dark Side. You've learned much and grown in your understanding of the Force more than I once thought possible. You have more than proven your qualifications for this position, Kyp. Have a little faith in the Force, would you?...and in yourself."

I was speechless. I had been ecstatic just to be offered a spot on the Council but had never dared dream that I would one day be the leader. It was mind-blowing.

"Kyp?" Jaina whispered, nudging my side with her elbow. I looked at her and she gestured for me to answer.

Luke smiled and suddenly looked boyish again. "So, will you do it? Will you head up the Council?"

I turned and looked at Jaina who was beaming at me with pride in her eyes. Knowing she approved sent a bolt of confidence through me and I felt my back straighten.

"Yes," I answered. "I accept your offer, Master Skywalker, and I am very grateful for everyone's vote of confidence. I will do my best to live up to your expectations and prove worthy of the honor you have given me." I made sure to make eye contact with each and every person in that room. I meant what I said and wanted them to know it...especially Jaina.

Luke grinned and said, "Good. Now that that is taken care of, on to our next order of business. Since I will be relinquishing my seat on the Council to Kyp, that leaves us with an empty one. We have also discussed this matter and agreed on a suitable replacement... Jaina."

Now it was her turn to be surprised. She straightened in her chair with a jolt and I smirked.

"Jaina," Luke explained, "the Council feels that you are the perfect person to add to our ranks...that is, if Kyp agrees."

All eyes were upon me, and Jaina's hopeful brown ones would have melted even the hardest of resolves. Fortunately, I wasn't trying to resist. "Of course I agree," I declared, and before I knew it Jaina had flung her arms around me for another hug. Two in two days. She was certainly more affectionate than I remembered, but I rather liked it.

"Thank you, Kyp," she whispered gratefully into my ear.

"Don't thank me. I'm just as shocked as you are."

"Ahem." Luke cleared his throat to get our attention and Jaina settled back into her seat. "Now, this isn't something you can just jump right into," he told her. "You'll need to shadow one of the other members for a while to get a feel for how we do things around here. And since you and Kyp have worked together successfully in the past, it only makes sense that he be the one you shadow. Again, Kyp, only if you agree."

"Sure, sure. No problem at all," I said grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. The way she looked at me and deftly weaved her fingers in mine sent a jolt of awareness through me that I couldn't explain. It should have been another clue as to what was to come, but I was too astonished with what had just been offered to me that I didn't think anything of her actions at the time.

I was such a fool.