Chapter 18

Jacen ran into the office he knew belonged to Nomica. He burst through the door, ever so glad he didn't have to wait for the door to slide open.

"Jacen Solo!" Nomica hollered at having her wooden door almost yanked off its hinges. Nomica allowed her heart to return to a normal pace. "Where's your uncle?"

As the words left her mouth, an out of breath Luke came in. He hadn't expected Jacen to take off running as he did. "I'm here."

"Jacen, I think you should go see Gracelin. She'd be happy to see you." Nomica said, trying to dismiss the younger Jedi.

Jacen was confused. "But…" Luke just gestured for him to leave. Jacen sighted and left the room headed for the Palace.

Gracelin waited a few minutes. "Is he gone?"

"You can use the Force to tell you." Luke answered simply.

"You know I don't want to have anything to with the use of the Force."

"It's obvious, based on the way you made Gracelin hide her abilities."

Nomica was annoyed that he knew. "It was necessary."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter any more. I need to talk to you about something very important."

"Okay." Luke sat in the chair across from Nomica. "Start talking." He wasn't here on pleasure and he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Gracelin was shot."

"What!"

"She's fine. Her arm is in a sling for a week."

The sling. "I guess that's good to hear."

"Oh, it's just the beginning."

"What does that mean?"

"Let me tell you what happened. I receive a call from Kristea at the Palace's emergency medical center, telling me my daughter has been shot. I ran right down there, like any other mother would.

"When I got to the main desk I asked what room Gracelin Dathe was in. The nurse told me there was no Dathe 'being treated in the facility.'

"Greyton had told me that he and Gracelin had been getting closer. So I asked for Gracelin Rowe. The nurse gave me the same line.

"So I asked if there was anyone by the name of Gracelin. She said yes." Her face contorted into one of hurt and anger. "She told me yes, Gracelin Solo."

"What!"

"They got married Luke!"

"What did she say?"

"The first day she was in a coma. The second day they moved her out of the emergency department. When I finally did get to talk to her, I didn't give her much of a chance to say anything."

Luke knew how Nomica could get and only hoped she hadn't hurt Gracelin, emotionally. "What did you do?"

"I went in there screaming. Security actually had to pull me out."

"I can't believe it. I wonder how long." Luke now knew that it was no longer a 'dream' but a premonition.

"I don't know; she wouldn't tell me. She wouldn't talk to me at all. Greyton is the one that found out about how long her arm was in the sling."

"I'm sorry." Luke could tell it upset her.

"I just wonder when I turned into my father."

"You didn't Nomi. You're not your father. You're just trying to take care of your only daughter."

Nomica looked down and sighed. "That reminds me why I asked you here. There is a little complication for the two of them being married."

Luke furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Gracelin lay in her room at the med center. She fingered with the chain around her neck. She tried to sit up but with the sling it made it almost impossible to do by her self.

She had asked Kristea a day ago to send Jacen a message. Kristea was to return soon, and sure enough Gracelin could sense her Force signature.

"Gracelin, we need to talk!" Her voice had a tad of annoyance.

"Kristea, what's wrong?"

"I just got security's investigative report, and also your med report for me to add to your file."

"Okay. I don wish you'd explain why you're so upset."

"Well for one, someone is trying to kill my best friend!"

"What are you talking about? Stop exaggerating."

"I'm not! From where the sniper shot came from, where they think he sat and where you were, he was aiming at specifically at you; not the Queen."

"Huh?"

"It's the truth, Gracelin."

"That means I put her Highness's life in danger! They're never going to let me go back to my job!"

"You're right."

"I was hoping I was exaggerating, Kristea." A look of disappointment crossed over her features.

"It's not because of that. It's because of what's on your med report." Kristea held up a piece of paper.

Gracelin snatched away the paper to see what it could be that would leave her unemployed. "Wow." She swallowed hard.

"Yeah."

"I don't, I can't believe it. I'm, I'm really…"

"Pregnant? I can't believe in either."

"I guess it'd be hard to pretend to be the Queen while being as big as a balloon."

Kristea could tell she was just trying to keep the mood light. "Yeah."

Gracelin could feel the tears in her eyes. It wasn't that she was upset about the news. She was excited. It was just the circumstances that surrounded it that pulled at her heart.

Her vision began to blur. "Kristea, could you please leave? I need to be alone."

"Gracelin…"

"Just go." Her voice was breaking. As soon as the door shut she let it out.

She wanted to roll on her side and curl into a ball but the blaster shot wound in her left shoulder wouldn't allow it. Gracelin wished so much that Jacen was with her. She wondered what his reaction would be. She wiped her eyes with her right hand.

She realized her left hand rested on her stomach. She let a smile come to her face. They'd been married almost four months, and now they were going to have a baby. A little bit of who she was combined with who Jacen is. That thought brought new tears to her eyes, but ones of joy,

She closed her eyes and absent mindedly began stroking her stomach, where she knew their baby was growing. She kept her eyes closed and tried to imagine what their child would look like. As she did this she eventually fell asleep.

Jacen was standing at the main entrance trying to get access into the Palace. That was until he saw Kristea walk by. "Kristea!" He shouted.

She turned to see who was addressing her. "Jacen?" She squint her eyes against the sun light. "Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see Gracey."

"They moved her to a different med center."

"Wait, med center? What happened?"

"You didn't get my message?"

"No! Is she alright? What happened?"

Kristea started walking with him in the direction of where Gracelin was. "She got shot. It's nothing major, but she gave us quite a scare. She was in a coma for a day. Her left arm is in a sling but only for a week. She's been asking for you."

"Well, I'm here now." Even though she told him Gracey was fine, he needed to see it with his own eyes.

She could tell, "Third door on your left."

"Thank you." He walked down the hallway to her door. He gently knocked but when no answer came he opened the door.

He saw her lying asleep in the bed. Her curls lay over the pillow, and a calm look on her face. He saw her arm in the sling and wanted so much to take her pain away. As he stood to her right he saw where the tears had dried on her face.

He gently tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. He hadn't meant to, but he was glad when she stirred and opened her eyes.

She saw what looked like unshed tears in his eyes. "Hi, love."

He touched his forehead to hers. "You scared me. You can't keep doing that."

"I didn't mean to."

"It didn't help that Nomica didn't tell me what was happening."

"My mother? When did you talk to her?"

"She called Luke and me; told us we needed to hurry and get here. She told me to come see you and Luke stayed with her."

Gracelin took a deep breath, "She's telling him."

"Telling him what?"

"She found out we got married and she's probably telling him."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when she found out."

"Its okay, it was probably best for your safety." A smile fell upon her lips. "Will you lie next to me?"

"I probably shouldn't."

"It won't hurt me, Jacen." She scooted to her left enough for him to lie down, facing her. She tucked a piece of his brown hair away from his face.

"What is it?" He could feel that something was being left unsaid.

Her smile widened. "I'm pregnant," she whispered.

It took his breath away. He kissed her and pulled back to see tears of joy in her eyes. "I love you." He whispered back to her. He didn't know what else to say.

He was happy and that's what she had wanted. All the fears that had plagued her before were washed away by the silly grin he was wearing.

She curled up to him and he wrapped his arms around her. Both were more than content in each other's arms. Both lost in thought about the new life they had created.

Nomica and Luke stood at the entrance to Gracelin's room. She lay next to her husband wrapped in his arms. Both had fallen asleep that way.

"There's no reason to wake them. Let them have tonight we can tell them in the morning." Luke said, fully wishing he was dreaming. That he would, at any minute, wake up next to Mara.

"In the morning." Nomica shook her head in agreement. She wiped a tear away, knowing that tomorrow would break her daughter's heart.

A/n: I wanna say thanks to everyone that has reviewed. Thank you: Ledagirl321,Mara look-a-like, Rhi-Nonny, MsJML, Darth Nicka, and Naberrie.

Ok so here's the deal: i'm still banned from the computer and i'm sneaking on when i get the chance. So i'm going to really try to update as soon as ican. some updatesmight be close together and others further apart. Sorry :(