Guess what? This is my Christmas present from me to you. Happy belated holiday stuff!
A: She owns nothing.
M: Except for us. Anyone want –
A: - To buy us?
Chapter Fifteen: Scheme
Last evil sentence:
He found himself transfixed by Jaina's eyes; the urge to kiss her grew stronger until he finally started to lean down and…
- was interrupted by someone exclaiming, "Jaina Solo! Aren't you going to give your father a hello?"
Zekk jumped and turned to Han Solo with a startled look. How long had been standing on the edge of the dance floor watching them? Jaina instantly left his arms and made her way to Han. Slowly, Zekk followed but had to pause as a flurry of dancers swirled past him. He bitback a disappointed groan as he watched Jaina hug her father and kiss his cheek. He had a pretty good idea of what would have happened if Han hadn't interrupted them, and Zekk was rightly miffed about it.
Suddenly, a little voice in the back of his head interrupted his sulking. How do you know you were about to kiss?
Our faces were barely inches apart. I'm pretty sure that means we were about to kiss, Zekk responded to the voice.
Wishful thinking, the voice sneered. Have you forgotten how she's been avoiding you recently?
She's nearly stopped! Zekk hissed back. He was becoming increasingly agitated with this little voice in his head.
Jaina still hasn't been fully relaxed around you, though, has she? It asked.
Zekk couldn't respond and instead, hated the fact that he knew the voice was right. He muttered curses under his breath but jumped when he felt Jaina's hand on his arm. She looked at him concernedly and asked, "Zekk, are you all right? You were muttering something about voices. You're not talking to the people in your head again, are you?" Jaina smirked up at him. She patted him on the elbow condescendingly – his shoulder was too high for her to reach. "You know those people aren't real, just signs of the madness within your brain."
"People in my head? Jaina, are you having those imaginary conversations with yourself, again? I knew I should've made you take your medication," Zekk said, sighing in fake exasperation.
She laughed and swatted him. Zekk caught her hand and tugged her closer to him. His arm snaked around her shoulders as he got her into a firm headlock. Jaina protested loudly, claiming that it had taken her forever to get her hair up. Zekk laughed – he knew it had barely taken her twelve minutes – and noogied her. She managed to poke Zekk in his side – the only place he was really ticklish – and broke free while laughing hard. Both were oblivious to the scene they were making and the fact that they were being watched - and recorded.
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"Doesn't she know how long it took to get her dress to fall just right?" Kionne asked Marin. The teenage girls were hidden behind a plant near the alcove where the two Jedi were giving into their more childish sides. Kionne continued to fret. "And her hair! I had to redo it when she came into the room. How could Master Zekk even consider messing it up after all the effort that I put into it?"
"At least Jaina isn't avoiding him as much," Marin offered. She absently straightened her cat-eared headband as it attempted to fall off her head. "So how are we going to get them to admit anything to each other?"
Kionne flopped into a nearby chair. She sighed then said, "I don't know. Maybe we should try locking them into a closet together? That might work."
Marin chewed her lower lip, seriously considering the idea. Jacen had said they had done all they could and now it was up to Jaina and Zekk. Both girls knew their masters and frankly thought Jacen was wrong. So, they continued on with their matchmaking plots. Jaina and Zekk had left their half-hidden alcove and temporarily separated ways - Zekk to go check out the snacks and talk to Alaric and Mystiran and Jaina to go say hi to acquaintances.
"That might be a good idea, but when? They need to go to the next seven parties since they were in the wedding party."
"Umm… we could do it after the seventh party. That's five days before Master Jacen and Master Tenel Ka leave for their honeymoon and the day before we leave," Kionne suggested.
"Mrow, that's excellent! Master Zekk will be bored with all the social functions and will want to train!"
"Master Jaina's the same."
The two continued to fill out all the hard points in their plan.
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Jacen collapsed onto the couch as soon as he walked through the door. He beamed up at Tenel Ka from his prostrate position. She gave him a small smile of her own before gently laying herself across him. He tucked her head underneath his chin and smiled into her hair. At this moment he doubted there to be a happier man than him. They created an almost picturesque scene. Tenel Ka's red hair was released from its stylized confines and now spread out over his right. Both were still clad in their wedding finery but neither cared. Jacen's left arm was wrapped tightly around her waist with her single arm draped over his stomach.
Slightly unwelcome thoughts of his sister ran through his brain. Jaina seemed, for the most part, to have overcome whatever had spooked her from before. She and Zekk had nearly kissed, too. Pity that his dad had chosen that moment to intervene; it would've saved him twelve credits. His suddenly did a complete 180 as soon as Tenel Ka leaned up to kiss him. Jacen's mind cleared of all thoughts of his sister and everything else, in general.
"Are you happy, Prince Consort?" Tenel Ka asked when she pulled away.
"Can't recall a time I've been happier," Jacen responded, grinning like an idiot.
"It's a pity that friend Jaina and friend Zekk cannot come to their senses," Tenel Ka commented.
"Who?" Jacen asked before leaning down and kissing her again.
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"Hey, Al, where are you going?" Mystiran asked as his twin brother suddenly turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction.
"I think I left my datapad in the ballroom. I'll be right back," Alaric said as he hurried down the hall.
Tahiri watched her brother-in-law half-jog away before turning to her husband. She slapped his arm and waited until Mystiran's exclamation of pain and protests died down, then said, "Go after him!"
"What? You slapped me for that?" Mystiran asked. "He's just going to get his datapad; I think he can do that alone."
She slapped him in the arm again. "He could get lost. This place is too big for an absent-minded man like him."
"Al's a big a boy," Mystiran said. "He doesn't need an escort."
"Mystiran Ermenegildo Kenys!" Tahiri stood in front of him, her arms akimbo. "You go after your brother right now! I will not have him go missing in this maze of a palace!"
Mystiran flinched then nodded. "Fine, I'll go!"
He turned and went after his brother, muttering about wives sounding like mothers and evil middle names. Once he was out of his wife's sight, Mystiran gently reached out with the Force to find his brother. Alaric was in a room that was most definitely not the ballroom -in fact, it was an empty office. Now that Mystiran thought about it, Alaric hadn't even brought anything remotely technological into the ballroom. Tahiri had personally made sure of that. Expanding his Force senses a bit more, Mystiran discovered that Alaric was not alone. Marin and Kionne were in the room with him. His "Al's-doing-something-stupid-without-me" sense rang through his mind.
Determined to break up or join in whatever trouble Alaric was going to cause, Mystiran walked to the door only to find it locked. He waved a hand over it and growled in frustration when the red light remained on. Finally, he gave up doing things the pretty way and broke the locking mechanism with the Force. The door slid open with another wave of his hand.
Marin and Kionne jumped when the door opened but Alaric only waved at him before returning to the datapad he was looking over. Alaric's face was blank as he changed something on the 'pad. Mystiran knew that face, it was one of the reasons they had always been into so much trouble back at the Jedi Academy. It was the reason that they had been put under Jaina's command and worked to death. A little voice in the back of his brain protested as he sat down across from his brother and asked, "So, what are you doing this time and how can I be of service?"
"Umm… Master Kenys?" Kionne asked. Both men looked over at her. "Master Mystiran, what– how did you -"
"Know?" Mystiran smirked. "Kid, I've been scheming with Al for years, I know when he's up to something."
"And Tahiri most likely forced him to come after me in fear of my getting lost," Alaric stated, not wavering from his task in the slightest.
Mystiran discreetly kicked Al in the shin. As his brother remained annoyingly unfazed, Mystiran turned to the girls and said firmly, "You two should be more careful. Had I been an enemy, I would have been able to kill you both. You must be on guard at all times. It seems that Al was the only one alert to my presence–"
"Which has nothing to do with the fact that we're twins," Alaric interjected.
"- and that's not always going to happen," Mystiran finished as if he had never been interrupted. He waved the door closed before continuing. "Now, back to business; what are you three up too?"
Kionne and Marin exchanged looks and tried to look innocent. Both started to protest, but Alaric cut them off.
"They're playing matchmaker with the Goddess and Zekk," Alaric answered. "Their plan is to lock both of them in the closet."
"Really? Hmm… that's going to take some work. Have you decided where? It has to be busy enough so Great One and Zekk's Force signatures can mix with others but empty at some point for them to be shoved in." At that point, Mystiran invited himself into trouble and started to brainstorm with his brother. The two apprentices remained in bewildered silence for quite sometime until Mystiran and Alaric looked up at them and asked, "Are you going to help or not?"
From that point on, the two Knights and two apprentices fleshed out and completed the plan.
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Jaina glanced at what could be seen of Zekk. She had woken early in the morning and was unable to fall asleep. She had turned on the lights without thinking and Zekk's automatic response was to pull the covers over his head. He remained thankfully unaware that she was having a bout of insomnia, with him being the main cause.
She had to tell him something, and soon. Or else she would go mad. She was torn between wanting to wake him then and there and waiting until morning. After watching him sleep for a few more moments, Jaina decided that if she couldn't sleep, he wasn't going to sleep.
With a small wave of her hand, the lights in the room grew brighter. She tugged the blankets away from his face. Zekk frowned, closing his eyes even tighter. He pulled his pillow over his head. Jaina muttered a curse then poked him hard in the shoulder. Zekk grunted and Jaina repeated the motion two more times. On her fourth attempt, Zekk's hand shot up from the pillow and grabbed her finger.
Zekk's muffled voice filtered out from under the pillow. "Wha' the Sith d'you want?"
"I want to talk."
"Wait till mornin'," Zekk ordered.
The lights suddenly went out in the room. Jaina suddenly felt a mind pressing against hers, willing her to sleep. She shoved back at Zekk's mind, and turned the lights to their brightest setting. Zekk fought back, shutting off the lights once more and gently coaxing her to sleep. Jaina turned on the lights and yanked the covers off with the Force.
The door to the refresher unit slid open and a glob of water floated into the room. She sprang from the bed just as the water fell on Zekk. His reaction was instant. The man jumped up and promptly fell backwards out of the bed.
He slowly stood grimacing as his wet shirt stuck to back. Zekk scowled at a laughing Jaina and crossed his arms. "What, exactly, was that for?"
Jaina chuckled a bit more before she replied, "I said that I wanted to talk, didn't I?"
"And I said to wait until morning," Zekk snapped. His scowl deepened when she laughed again.
"It is morning though, see for yourself," she said, pointing to the chronometer.
He glanced at it. The time read 5:18 in the morning. He fought the urge to roll his eyes and glared at her. "You know what I meant."
"Yes, I'm afraid I did. But I do need to talk to you."
"And it couldn't wait?"
"'Fraid not."
He sighed and walked over to the dresser. He pulled off the wet shirt and replaced it with a dry one. Jaina nearly had to slap herself to stop staring. Then, Zekk approached the bed and moved over to Jaina's much dryer side and perched on the corner. He was looking at her expectantly, his eyes roughly at the same height as hers.
"Well…," Jaina started hesitantly, not knowing where to begin. She paused in thought for a moment before saying, "D'you know that dream I had a few weeks back, the one that… err… made me freak out?"
He nodded.
"The dream it was about… It had…," Jaina stuttered. Her gaze was fixed at a spot on the floor when she murmured, "We were married and had kids."
"What?" Zekk asked. "Could you repeat that? You were muttering."
Jaina swung her gaze back up to him. He had to be kidding! It was hard enough just to say it at that volume level. Biting back a groan, Jaina repeated her statement. The slight widening of Zekk's eyes and his raised brow made her look away. Then he laughed. Surprised, Jaina stared at him.
"Is that all?" Zekk asked with an incredulous tone.
"No, not exactly," Jaina said. "There were other similar dreams over the weeks."
"But that's all?" Zekk asked. He had stopped laughing and stood. She nodded and was suddenly struck with how much taller he was than her. He pulled her into a hug and chuckled once more. "You're silly. Getting upset over nothing more than a dream. Honestly, Jay, I thought you were more mature than that."
Jaina laughed and tugged back slightly to give him a grateful smile. Zekk laughed once more and ruffled her hair.
"Go take a shower," he ordered. "You're starting to smell funny."
She gave an outraged laugh and he easily ducked her hand as she made her way across the room to the refresher unit. As he watched the door close, Zekk couldn't help but wish that the dreams were real.
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Han Solo frowned at the holoscreen. He was watching the news and suddenly, his mental "A-Male-Is-Touching-My-Daughter-Without-My-Permission" alarm went off. His mind instantly went back to the memory of his daughter and that boy who used to hang around his house all the time.
They had been dancing, far too close for Han's liking. The song playing made Han want to kill someone. What was that boy implying? That he wanted to make out with his daughter? (1) He remembered reaching down for his blaster, and only realized that he had left it in his state room when he felt air. Han had been about to greet them – anything to get her daughter away from him (and any males in general) – when they stopped dancing. He frowned in puzzlement and waited to see what they were doing. The song was drawing to a close as the boy and Jaina's faces got to close for Han's comfort. So, he did the one thing he could think of – summon Jaina over away from that boy.
Not to say that Han didn't like Boy-Whose-Name-He-Forgot, he was a pretty good kid from what he remembered. So long as he was far away from his daughter. Suddenly, a voice that sounded remarkably like Lando went through his head.
You know, she is fully grown. She can handle herself around boys.
Han stiffened. How dare that voice! No she can't! Boys are bad. Very bad. Very, very bad.
You sound like a broken holo-record. Jaina's grown up now. She doesn't need you to watch out for her every single second of the day.
Yes, she does. Jaina's my baby girl. If I say that she's not old enough for boys, then she's not old enough.
How old were you when you started to take an interest in girls?
Not the point! That's totally different!
How? Aside from the fact that Jaina's female and you're male?
She's my daughter! I can't-
You can't what? Let her go? Come now, she's a fully grown woman. A pretty one at that.
Watch it, buddy. Just because you're in my subconscious doesn't mean I can't do serious damage to you.
Don't change the subject. Now, are you willing to let go? She is old enough to not need you to get her alcohol at bars.
… How did you know about that? Nevermind, it doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that she's falling for someone and I don't-
"Han, stop talking to the voices in your head!"
Han jerked out of his internal conversation to stare at his left. He replied intelligently with, "Huh?"
"You had that look on your face that you get when you're arguing with yourself. That and you were muttering something about a stupid voice and a girl being five." Leia gave him an appraising look. "What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing," he said quickly and turned back to the holoscreen.
-----TBC-----
Yes, it's short and I'm sorry for that! On the other hand, though, things are thickening up a bit, no? And this chapter had plot! Yay!
1. That part with Han and the music is reference to where Zekk thought in the last chapter: "Jaina was going to think he wanted to make out with her…".
