Disclaimer: I don't own any of it! I swear.

Chapter Seven: Death

(With Jaina, in ship, in hyperspace)

Jaina's head nodded as she dozed off against the wall of the transport. Unfortunately, her doze was cut short by Alaric's insistent shaking of her shoulder. She muttered and pried opened her eyes, glaring slightly at him.

"What do you want, Al? Can't a girl get some kriffin' sleep 'round here?" Jaina rubbed her bleary eyes and waited for a reply.

"You cannaptilate on planet when we're unsafely in enemy territory, Great One, but for now, it's your turn to watch the cockpit thingy majiger," Alaric said.

"Al, 'napitlate' isn't a word," Jaina pointed out.

"Bite me!"

Jaina laughed and got up off the couch. She surveyed the room and people, mentally doing a rerun over the supplies and people needed. She had only brought four other members of her squadron. There was Dai Sona, a green female Twi'lek, Clare Ahearn, a female human who had a fondness for shooting anything that moved, Carey Adair, one of Jaina's most trusted members and a human male, and Mystiran Kenys.

They were currently on a transport heading towards some planet that Jaina couldn't pronounce. Their assignment was to overthrow some mob that controlled everything on planet. Jaina, Clare, Mystiran, and Carey would infiltrate the building while Alaric and Dai operated at the base camp and provided support for the team. As she made her way to the cockpit, Jaina felt a sense of foreboding that she wouldn't see some of these people again.

XaXaXaXa-

(With Zekk, on Mon Calamari)

Zekk paced back and forth in Jaina's room. She had only been gone for 5 days and he was already sick with worry. Heck, Jaina might not even be on the planet yet. He didn't have a clue where she was and it irritated him. No one at the military base would tell him and he didn't know anyone in Jaina's squadron except for Mystiran and Alaric Kenys, but they were with Jaina. If it was up to him, he would have been one of the individuals who went with her instead of staying home and worrying. In the back of his mind, Zekk wondered why he hadn't gone gray yet from all of his anxiety.

The chronometer in Jaina's room beeped. It was 300. This was a sleepless night – the same way it had been for every daysince she hadleft. He had tried to sleep, but found that he couldn't, not when Jaina was in some unknown danger and he couldn't protect her. Occasionally, sleep got overtook of him, but his dreams were plagued by visions of his fears and he would wake up immediately.

Days went by without any news. Jaina's team had gone under comm silence as soon as they had entered hostile territory. Now, he would normally be harassing Jaina for information through their recently repaired bond, but she had cut him off. The same went for Kionne, Jacen, Lowie, and everyone else who had tried to reach her. Kionne's explanation for this was that Jaina didn't want to get distracted if anything happened outside of the mission. That had sent Zekk into a nice little fit of mentally cursing Jaina.

He ran his fingers through unbound hair. This was annoying him to no end. When Jaina got back, she was going to get an earful. A couple seconds later Zekk groaned and flopped onto the bed. He stared at the red numbers on the chrono. In two hours the sun would be rising. He rolled over and attempted to get some form of rest.

XaXaXaXa-

(With Jaina)

Jaina scowled as she left the room on Carey's arm, pretending to fawn over him. When they were out of surveillance, Jaina let go of his arm and glared at him. Carey was of medium height, about 29 years old with curly brown hair and brown eyes. He grinned down at Jaina.

"Next time you're impersonating-"

"Carey, I hope you and Ellie are happy with only 2 kids because if you continue that sentence then you'll lose all ability to reproduce," Jaina said sweetly.

Carey coughed and looked ahead. "So, Goddess, who's this guy I keep hearing about from Al and 'Ran?"

"Umm… his name's Zekk," Jaina said, averting her eyes.

"Ooooohhhhh, does the Goddess have a crush?" Carey teased.

"No!" Jaina said too quickly. "Now stay in character, you moron, or else we're doomed."

Carey shut his mouth, but he still had a slight smirk on his face.

XaXaXaXa-

(With Zekk)

Marin and Kionne had dragged him out of Jaina's room, again. They made him sit down and eat. He grumbled and did as he was told. When he was in the middle of his cereal, the door chime rang. Kionne left to go answer it. When she came back, Jacen was with her. Zekk nodded a greeting and continued to eat.

"So, Zekk, how have you been?" Jacen asked.

"Jace, it's only been a few days since you've last seen me," Zekk said, looking over the holo paper.

"Yeah, well… I know you're really worried about Jaya and all, so I was worried about you a bit," Jacen blurted out.

Zekk rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to worry about, Jacen, I'm fine. Absolutely, positively–" Zekk was cut off by a wave of pain that was not his own.

The pain was mixed with anger, grief, and guilt. It ripped through him. After a second, Zekk figured out that it was Jaina's pain he was feeling. Immediately, he reached out to her and tried to comfort her. Jaina pushed away and withdrew – she blocked him off again. He slowly became aware of his surroundings. Jacen had a look of concentration, Kionne was looking worried, and Marin had a confused expression on her face.

"Kriff you, Jaina!" Jacen exclaimed. "She's blocking me again! How can she block her twin? That's not right! When she gets back I'm gonna–" Zekk stopped listening to Jacen after this point. His breath came slowly as he tried to regain contact with Jaina once more. The only thing he received was a big mental wall that barred his path. He gently nudged only to be pushed back and given a message.

/Not now, Zekk./

Zekk sighed and gave up for the moment. He didn't feel like fighting her right now. Silently, Zekk continued with his breakfast while Jacen ranted and raved away.

XaXaXaXa-

(5 days later, with Zekk, in Jaina's apartment, around 2:00 pm)

Zekk lounged on the couch and flipped through holo channels. He was keeping himself busy to keep his mind off the serious lack of news from Jaina. Worrying never did him any good, and after this he would most likely be a lot grayer. There wasn't much he could do about the information part until Jaina got back. The keeping busy also would have been easier if Marin hadn't dragged Kionne off to Sith knows where. Boredom was taking control of his brain and soon –

A presence flooded his senses. Zekk leaned up slightly on the couch, gently giving the being a questioning nudge.

/Yes, Zekk/

/Is it you/

/I don't know, is it/

/WHAT THE KRIFF IS THE MATTER WITH YOU/

/Ow, Zekk, no need to shout/

/SHOUTING? I'M NOT SHOUTING? I'M MENTALLY SCREAMING INTO YOUR BRAIN/

/It's the same thing./

/NO IT – Oh wait… It is. Sorry./

/Don't worry about it./

/Are you okay, Jay/

/Me? I'm fine. Why do you ask/

/No reason./ Zekk's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She was hiding something and he would find out if she was going to tell him or not. /How close to home are you/

/Check for yourself, lazy bum./

/That was uncalled for./ He reached out and found her shining presence. It was very close to the apartment building. /Jay, when you get home, we're talking about the mission./

Jaina sent him a mental sigh. /I figured you would say that. Okay, talk to you in a few./

Zekk smiled in satisfaction and settled against the couch to wait.

TBC-

Hehe, sorry it was so late. The original version on a disk was inaccessible and I had to retype it. Before that I had finals and I had to study. So yeah but I'm on summer break now and can devote more of my time to writing. …gives readers chocolate Zekks in repentance and bribery…

Reviews:

Ace Ryn Knight: Thank you! I didn't feel sorry for Jacen one bit. Oh, and my favorite NJO book is Traitor but my favorite books are the Hand of Thrawn Duology. I loved those!

DathomiranAuthorRoamer: Thanks! And don't worry about not replying. You were busy and that's totally understandable. I mean, you do have a life outside of writing.

Aramor Lady of Mirkwood: Thank you!

Ice-maiden9191: …blushes… I don't think it's the best J/Z story out there. There's a lot more better ones out there. Thank you very, very much!