Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars; I'm just messing around for my own amusement.
Hi everyone; I'm back! Did you miss me? I'm not going to bore you and say anything about my trip. Instead, I'm going to entertain you with my evil-ness (I'm very aware that's not a word). I actually felt sorry for Jaina and Zekk in this one. Hope you guys like it!
Chapter Twelve: Dreams
"Wake up, sleepyhead," a voice said, interrupting his sleep. He groaned and pulled a pillow over his face. He heard a small laugh coming from the person trying to wake him up. "Fine, if you're going to be that way then I'll just have to call in the backup."
The person got off the bed and left the room. Zekk lifted the edge of the pillow a bit and peaked out. He was back on Mon Calamari, in Jaina's apartment to be precise. So that means the person was Jaina. Now that he thought about it, the voice was feminine and familiar. He didn't get to muse any further beyond that point, since two screaming, petite beings came running in the room.
Both of them hopped on the bed and bounced their way over. When they reached Zekk, the two both jumped on him. Zekk's breath came out in an 'oomph'. He turned over with a groan and stared at the small children now seated on him. One – a boy – bore a strong resemblance to himself with almost black hair and emerald eyes. The other child was a girl and she looked a bit more like Jaina, for she had the same shade of hair, except Zekk's own eyes were staring back at him.
"Daddy, get up!" the boy cried, bouncing up and down.
"Yeah, daddy, get up!" the girl echoed.
They said similar statements back and forth with the occasional bounce until Jaina walked back into the room. She looked the same, if you didn't count the baby she was now carrying. Jaina grinned at him when she noticed his stare.
"So is daddy going to stop being lazy and get up now?" Jaina asked.
"If these little monsters get off me first," Zekk heard himself say.
"Daddy, we aren't monsters!" the girl protested.
"Carey, Maeve, you heard your dad, off with you. Go finish your breakfast," Jaina said.
"Food!" the little boy yelled. He didn't waste any time in scrambling off Zekk and the bed - the young girl following close behind.
Zekk went into a sitting position as Jaina sat down on the edge near his feet. She helped the baby sit up a bit and look at him. The infant's eyes were still blue and there was only a bit of fuzz on top of its head, making it hard to distinguish the color. "Ailis, are you going to say good morning to your daddy?"
The baby gurgled and started to suck on her fist. Zekk's arms moved in a gesture that he wished to hold the child. Jaina handed her over and the baby looked up at Zekk with slight curiosity before kicking her feet and babbling. A tiny hand wrapped around his hair and gave it a tug. Zekk grunted and gently pried the fingers out of his hair.
"It's not very nice when she decides that your hair is the perfect toy, is it?" Jaina asked.
"No kidding," Zekk agreed dryly as he played a game of peek-a-boo with Ailis. The baby giggled and waved her tiny fists in delight.
"Okay, okay, give her back, Zekk, I need to finish feeding her," Jaina said. He nodded and handed the child over. Jaina shifted the child in her arms until the baby was comfortably cradled slightly on Jaina's hip. "Oh, and good morning." She leaned in and then…
He woke up. Zekk let out a frustrated noise. Blasted dream! It was getting good! Not that having three kids with Jaina wasn't wonderful but… Wait a minute! What was he babbling about? He wasn't supposed to be dreaming this! He was supposed to be denying any feelings for her! The dream was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare!
Zekk hit his head and groaned. This so-called "vacation" had to be the worst thing he'd ever agreed to. Before he rolled over to fall back asleep, Zekk glanced over at the sleeping Goddess. He held in another sigh as her rolled over and tried to fall back asleep.
XaXaXaXa-
"Hey, Jaya, can you help me with the groceries?" she heard her husband call.
Jaina had been looking over a datapad and slowly got up, still attempting to look at it even though she was moving away. Her husband, Zekk, was in the living room holding six bags – three for each hand – and when Jaina approached, he held out two. During the transferring of the bags, Zekk leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.
"Where are the kids?" he asked as they walked into the kitchen.
"Carey is with Al, Maeve is with Marin, Ailis is with my dad learning how to shoot a blaster, and Raelin and Kieran have just settled down for their nap," Jaina recited.
"Gre- wait a minute, did you say that your dad is teaching Ailis how to use a blaster!" Zekk exclaimed.
Jaina grabbed the back of Zekk's shirt as he turned and prepared to march out the door. "Calm down, Zekk, dad knows what he's doing. He wouldn't let her get hurt."
"But- but she's too young! She's only seven!" Zekk said.
"Now, now, you have to let go sometime. Besides, it isn't like he's letting her go against a whole squad of stormtroopers."
Zekk glared at her and then his face turned to a look of worry. "He wouldn't, would he? Han's not that crazy, right? Right? Jaya, I need some reassurance here!"
Jaina laughed at her husband. "You need to calm down. Dad wouldn't do anything like that. He only uses the squad for target practice."
Zekk let out a relieved sigh. "I was worried for a moment, there. You can never be too careful."
"You worry too much. I'm surprised you didn't go gray when Carey started walking," Jaina commented as she helped him put away the food. Jaina was currently trying to put a jar of preserves up on a high cabinet shelf. Zekk walked over, took the jar, and placed it easily on the shelf. Seeing Jaina's pout, he laughed and kissed her cheek.
"I think you've gotten shorter since I left this morning," Zekk said. He ran out of the kitchen laughing when Jaina started to chase him. She managed to tackle him halfway to the couch.
Jaina straddled his middle and looked down triumphantly at him. "Hah, I caught you."
Zekk rested his head on his hands. "So you did; what do you want your reward to be?"
She whacked him. "Silence mortal, I never gave you permission to speak."
"When have I ever needed or asked permission to do anything?" Jaina attempted to whack him again but Zekk caught her hand and leaned up to…
She woke up.
What was that all about? What was going on? Since when were she and Zekk married?
Jaina sat up and groaned. That dream was too… good to be true almost. Hold on a sec, 'too good to be true'! Since when had she held those feelings for him anyways? She glanced sideways at him and felt heat rush to her face. Hutt slime and Emperor's Black Bones, this was going to be one long and embarrassing wedding.
Her heart was pounding as she laid back down and tried to fall asleep not thinking about the dark-haired man slumbering beside her.
XaXaXaXa-
(Morning time, with Jaina and Zekk)
Sunlight streamed through the window and landed on the occupants of the only bed in the room. Jaina grumbled something and pulled the blanket over her head. After a few seconds of trying to fall back asleep, she sat up and looked around her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she went. Seconds later Jaina gave a surprised yelp and fell out of bed in her haste to get away.
Zekk shot up and looked around sleepily. "Is there a problem?" he asked with a sleepy slur.
"N- no, not at all!" Jaina exclaimed. Did she just stutter? Why was she going red? "I'm going to take a shower!" After she proclaimed that, Jaina half ran to the refresher unit.
The green-eyed Jedi stared at the 'fresher door for a moment before shrugging and muttering, "Must be some female thing."
XaXaXaXa-
(Breakfast, in Tenel Ka's private dining room)
"Jaina, are you okay?"
She looked up from her plate of eggs that she had been shuffling around and stared at the concerned face of her twin brother. A slightly forced smile appeared on her face. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."
"Tired? Why?"
Why can't Jacen be uncurious for once? Jaina thought, as she replied, "Just a dream I had."
Her face started to heat up as she remembered. She hadn't enjoyed the dream, had she?
"What was it about?" By now everyone at the table was peering at her curiously. The flush on her cheeks darkened.
"Umm… nothing… nothing at all," Jaina said. She stood up. "You know, I just remembered. I left something on in the Rock Dragon and I need to turn it off, now!" She left the room at a quick pace before anyone could stop her.
Jacen looked at the door his twin had retreated through. "What's wrong with her?" he questioned her dark-haired room mate. "What did you do?"
"Me? How come you immediately assume it was me?" Zekk said defensively.
"You share the same room," Jacen pointed out.
"Yes, well, what could I have to do with her dream?" Zekk asked.
Jacen blushed and thought for a moment. "I don't know, I guess I overreacted a bit. Sorry, I was being a tad overprotective."
"Speaking of dreams," Alaric said, cutting into the conversation, "I had a weird one last night."
"Really? I had one too. It was about pie," Mystiran said.
"So was mine!" Alaric exclaimed. "You stole my pie!"
"No, you stole my pie!" Mystiran countered.
"Nuh uh, it was mine!"
"No, my pie!"
"My pie!"
"My pie!"
"My–"
"It was no one's pie!" Tahiri yelled. "You both had one piece, happy?"
The twins became instantly mute and quailed under the petite blonde's gaze.
"Sorry for breaking the moment but I'm gonna head out. I want to see what's up with Jaina," Zekk said while standing up.
Jacen watched as Zekk walked across the room and out the door. He turned to the others with a grin. "Now that Jaina and Zekk are gone, I have something to tell you guys."
"Is it supposed to be kept secret?" Tahiri asked.
"Yes, I'd like it to avoid two certain pairs of ears."
"Then Al and 'Ran better leave," Tahiri said.
"Hey! We don't talk that much, Mrs. Parsec-A-Minute," Mystiran retorted.
"I may be talkative but I'm not a blabbermouth, unlike you two."
"But we can keep secrets! If they have important status in the government," Alaric said.
"And this doesn't, so leave," Tahiri ordered. "If you're both very good boys, then I'll get you a pie."
"Pie?" The twin brothers were nearly tripping over themselves in their haste to get out the door.
"Alright, now what's the secret?" Tahiri asked. "Is it juicy? Small, big, stupid? Political matter, personal? Well, c'mon, spit it out!"
"I would if you gave me a chance to talk!" Jacen said. "Well, pretty much, I'm trying to get Jaina and Zekk together. I've enlisted Kionne and Marin's help but any dirt or additional ideas would be great."
Lowie growled a question.
"I'll tell you," Jacen stated.
XaXaXaXa-
(Rock Dragon)
"Jaina, you in here?" Zekk called. He walked up the ramp of the Rock Dragon. He already knew she was in there – he just asked out of habit. There was a muffled reply from somewhere near the engines. He walked further into the ship. "Jaina, come out, I want to talk to you."
"No way," came the response. It sounded closer.
"Jay, where are you?" Zekk called. He took a couple more steps.
"I'm not here!"
"You can't hide forever!"
"Yes, I can!"
"Can't!"
"Can!"
"Can't!" Zekk kept walking until he saw a pair of worn out old boots sticking out of the engine crawl space. "Hah, found you!"
Jaina groaned and crept out. "You always were too good at hide-and-seek."
"Of course; you can't beat me at finding things." Zekk grinned at Jaina's disgruntled look. He grabbed a nearby rag and held it out to her. Jaina looked her grimy hands and then at the cloth and back to her hands. She bypassed the cloth and wiped her hands on Zekk's shirt. "Hey, this was a new shirt!"
"Yeah, so?"
Zekk laughed. "Well, now my clothes are dirty thanks to you."
"You're welcome, now can I get back to work?"
He shook his head. "Sorry, but you can't. I left my breakfast to talk to you. So, we are going to talk whether you like it or not." Zekk made himself comfortable against the engine compartment. Jaina leaned against the wall opposite from him. Their legs brushed each other every now and then because of the small space. "So what was with you at breakfast? And earlier this morning when you got up?"
"Nothing, like I said, it was just a dream."
"Well something about it has you freaking out."
She avoided his gaze. "It's not important; it just kind of startled me for a bit. I'm okay now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am." A beeping sound filled the room coming from Jaina's belt. She picked up her comlink and answered it, "Solo here; talk to me."
"Master?" Kionne's voice filtered through the link. "I thought we were supposed to be working on my blocking today."
"Oh, yeah, we are, I'll be in the gym in 15." Jaina stood. "I gotta go tend to my apprentice."
"Yeah, so do I, Marin needs to work on her meditation. That girl has a hard time standing still."
"I'll see you later," Jaina said as she stood and walked off.
XaXaXaXa-
(Training room, with Jaina and Kionne)
"Master, how long have you and Master Zekk known each other?" Kionne asked.
"A long time," Jaina responded.
"How long?" Kionne blocked a high slash aimed for her head.
"Since I was about ten or nine; I can't really remember."
Jaina lashed out with her foot and tripped her apprentice. Kionne rolled away and sprang to her feet. Kionne asked, "How did you two meet?"
"It was a chance meeting; we literally ran into each other," Jaina answered with a small laugh.
The sabers clashed when Kionne blocked yet another slash of Jaina's blade. Jaina pulled back and launched a series of swift stabs at Kionne's left. The female hybrid barely batted them away before she lost her balance and fell. Her master took the opportunity to knock Kionne's lightsaber out of her hand.
Kionne sighed and fell back against the training mat. "I guess this is why I need to work on my blocking."
Jaina laughed and sat down. "Yep, it looks like I'm going to have to give you some homework. I want you to practice those blocking exercises I taught you with the staff or stun stick. You need to do them in the morning, evening, and after meals for thirty minutes. We'll see if you've improved at the end of the week."
"Yes, ma'am; were you and Master Zekk good friends?"
Jaina paused in wiping the sweat off her face. "Yes," she said after a few moments of thought, "we were close, very close. It was almost like Jacen and me, but different." She smiled sadly and shook her head. "That was along time ago."
"What happened?"
"The war and doing different things; we grew apart and found that we didn't know each other any more."
"Oh."
"What's with the questions?" Jaina gave a slightly suspicious look.
"No reason, just curious," Kionne said. She stood and stated, "Master, I have made an appointment with your brother today."
"Oh? What are you and Jacen going to do?"
"He's going to show me some of the animals in his menagerie!"
Jaina made a face and waved her hand in dismissal. "All right, get outta here."
Kionne smiled and ran out. She pulled out a recorder and rewound it.
XaXaXaXa-
(Marin and Zekk, the other training room)
"Marin, you need to relax," Zekk said.
"But I can't! This is so boring! We've been sitting here for an hour! Not moving or anything!" Marin whined.
Zekk rubbed his temples. "Please, just empty your mind of all other thoughts; let the Force flow through you –"
"I've been doing that!"
"Alright, alright, never mind! Just practice when you get up, after midday meal, and before you go to bed."
"Yes, sir."
"Now, let's do a little review. How about I set up the remote and you can practice for a bit," Zekk suggested.
"Okay!" Marin exclaimed. She stood up and pulled out her lightsaber. "Master, how did you and Jaina meet?"
Zekk's hands froze over the controls. "Why do you want to know?"
"Just curious, you two seem to mention growing up together a bit. What was it like at the old Jedi academy with her, while we're at on the subject?"
Zekk put the remote off to the side. He leaned against the wall with his hand underneath his chin. "I met Jaina when she was trying to escape from the holopress." He gave a small chuckle. "We ran straight into each other." His face grew distant. "You know that I was first trained at Shadow Academy, right?"
Marin nodded.
"Well, for a year after that I became a bounty hunter." The distant look grew stronger. "Sith, I missed her that year… I mean them. But after dealing with the Diversity Alliance, I went to the Academy."
"Yeah, well, what was it like?"
"Oh, umm… it was fun, I guess."
"Yes, yes, that's all great, but what did you do together?"
"Err… well, normally after lessons, we would swim or work on the ships if we didn't get assigned anything. Every now and then, Jaina and I would walk through the jungle. The others would sometimes come, too." Zekk had a wistful smile on his chiseled features. His eyes held the far off look for a few more seconds, then Zekk shook it off and looked at Marin. "Hey, you, don't think you can distract me from making you work."
Marin grinned. "Mrow, you caught me!" She ignited her lightsaber and a green blade sprang out. "Okay, let's go!"
XaXaXaXa-
(Jacen's menagerie)
"Is this all you got?" Jacen asked Kionne.
The pink-skinned girl nodded.
"Okay then, I'll see what I can do with this bit of intelligence." Jacen moved around and started to feed some of the animals. "Kionne, do you have any idea what could be taking Marin?"
She shook her head and started to rip up some greens for Jacen's Clakdor frog-turtle.
"Meow, I'm here!" Marin called as she slid into the room. "The training session with Master Zekk ran longer than normal."
"That's all right," Jacen said. He finished feeding his miniature Mon Cal jellyfish and closed the tank. "So, what have you got for us?"
Marin sighed. "Nothing that wasn't known already."
"Kriff," Jacen swore. "Pardon my Corellian; that's okay, we can do without. Now," he placed his datapad on the table, "in this datapad I have two messages for Going Solo and Goddess. You guys need to get Techno Boy for me so I can make him send these messages under aliases."
"Yes, sir!" Both girls mock-saluted and ran out.
XaXaXaXa-
(random place #1)
"I hate identical twins," Marin declared.
"Me too, why do their Force presences have to be so hard to tell apart?"
"Beats me," Marin sighed. "Have you had any luck with his comm?"
"No, I keep getting a busy signal."
(random place #2)
"What do you mean there's no way for you to deliver me cookies and milk? C'mon, Mom, you can do anything, and Hapan cookies don't taste the same as yours!"
(Back to random place#1 with Kionne and Marin)
"We'll just have to hunt them down using the Force," Kionne stated.
"This is going to take forever!" Marin exclaimed.
"Well, let's go."
They reached out and found one of the brothers. He was in a room, presumably his. The two apprentices raced off. The halls they went through led them towards the living quarters just as expected. One of the Kenys twins was behind the Hapan wood door now in front of them. Marin knocked three times.
The door swung open and the twin said, "Eh? Whaddya want?"
"Which one are you?" Kionne asked.
"Which one am I?"
"Yes!" Both exclaimed in unison.
"I don't understand the question."
"How can you not understand?" Marin asked.
"Understand what?"
"Who are you?" Kionne exclaimed.
"Umm… Mystiran Kenys?"
"Oops, sorry, wrong one!" Marin grabbed the door knob and shut it.
"Let's try again," Kionne said. Once more, they reached out and felt for the other Kenys. He was in a nearby room, two halls down.
Alaric was closing his door behind him when the two girls sprang upon him.
"You're coming with us!" Kionne said. She grabbed his left arm.
"We're borrowing you for now," Marin added as she grasped his other arm.
Alaric blinked. "Where am I being borrowed?"
"I'm sorry but that's confidential information," Kionne answered. Marin pulled out a piece of black cloth and tied it around his head.
Alaric frowned. "But I was going to spar with 'Ran."
"There'll be cookies," Marin said.
Alaric wrenched himself out of their grasp and sprinted off. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Master Kenys, that's the wrong direction!"
"Mrow, watch out for the –"
BAM!
"- wall."
XaXaXaXa-
(Jacen's menagerie)
"Emperor's Black Bones, what happened to him?" Jacen asked.
Marin and Kionne supported Alaric Kenys into the room. His head lolled around, his eyes still covered with the blindfold.
"Master Kenys had an argument with a wall," Kionne started.
"And lost," Marin added.
"Wow, that must've been some fight," Jacen commented as he removed the blindfold.
Alaric's unfocused eyes turned to Jacen. "Mommy?"
Jacen coughed and ignored him. "Just give me a minute to heal him a little. We don't want him sending the messages to Chief Omas, now do we?" He set his hands on Alaric's head and reached for the Force. A minute later, Jacen drew his hands away. "Alaric should be okay for now."
On cue, Alaric groaned. "Did someone catch the registration of that freighter?"
"Sorry," Marin said, "we didn't."
"Do I smell cookies?" Alaric asked. He sat up and looked around eagerly.
"Why, yes, Alaric, you do," Jacen said. He stood and grabbed a plate. "Hot, yummy, chocolate cookies." Jacen waved the plate in front of Alaric with each word.
The technologically inclined blond leapt at the plate. "Gimme!"
Jacen held him back by putting a hand on his head. Alaric strained against him, arms waving frantically for the plate of cookie goodness just out of his reach. "Ah, ah, ah… You have to work for these. So, will you do whatever I ask?"
"Anything!"
"Good." Jacen moved his hand and Alaric fell face first onto the floor. "Now, Alaric, I want you to send these messages to these people, got it? But you must hack into the system under these names. Do you get it?"
"Consider it done."
XaXaXaXa-
(Jaina's room)
"Hello, what's this? New message?" Zekk grabbed his datapad - which was vibrating the heck out of his pants – and saw a blinking icon which indicated a new holomessage. The message was text only and said:
Zekk,
Meet me in front of the entrance garden at 1700.
Nada-n-Zip
"What the? Who's that?" He scratched his head. "Well, it can't hurt to see whatever this guy wants."
XaXaXaXa-
(comm station)
"I'm just going to check my messages; not do any work, just messages," Jaina repeated to herself. She sat at one of the stations and accessed her account.
There was on new message.
"To: GreatOne
Subject: Appointment
From: Idonotexist"
Jaina scratched her head. "Who the –" The message opened of its own accord.
It said:
Jaina Solo,
Meet me in front of the entrance garden at 1700.
Idonotexist
"Hmm… I guess it won't hurt to see what this guy wants," Jaina said. She glanced at her chronometer. It read 1655. "I better go now if I'm going to make it."
XaXaXaXa-
(Jacen's menagerie)
"Can I have the cookies now?"
TBC-
Well? What did you think? Was it worth the wait? It's longer than normal. Well, until next time!
Reviews:
Gundam: This is your name from now on, got it? The other one is too long to type in the middle of the night. You assume that Jaina and Zekk are going to find out about the matchmaking. I'm not that mean. I happen to like Kionne and Marin.
Aramor Lady of Mirkwood: You're welcome, and thank you for wishing me well on my trip! I really missed the computer while I was gone.
California Mountain Girl: Hehe, you haven't seen awkward yet. You've seen my humor. Comedy is my middle name… Well, it should be. Thanks for reviewing.
