"Maze, are you sure?"

Essie rarely questioned her husband's facts, just what he did with them sometimes. But this had shocked her.

He nodded, "The ID and designation tallies with his details at SOB."

"How? He wasn't 501st."

"The Battle of Coruscant….everyone was called to arms. Medics were reassigned. Jab went to the remainder of the 501st, primarily as medic, after it was split into the 332nd."

Essie saw the look on his face, he was reliving those days; it was a bad time for both of them. She tried not to think about it.

"Then after Order 66, SOB ceased to exist."

"Love…." She put her arms around him. Some would say he shouldn't be affected, he wasn't on the battle front but he survived and that was guilt enough for some people. "You did what you had to do. You made the right choice. You saved me, Del and Zey."

"Net'ra and Aven. Nat and Sol. Rex. All the others, so many and I thought Jab was gone too…..and now he's here."

"We just need to talk to him. Get that ID out and take it from there. I'll get Mel to do it."

Essie turned to walk away; he held onto her arm.

"Be careful. The 501st were keen."

"I know." The sight of the burning temple and the fear she felt that night pushed into her mind. She held her hand out.

"Key to the binders."

He rose, "I'll come with you, I'll be outside."

.

Essie knocked at the door. "Can I come in?"

"Can't stop you!"

She held her hand out for the key, Maze reluctantly put it in her hand, holding it for a few seconds; she nodded understanding the reason behind it. She entered the small room.

"Jab?"

He looked to one side, not able to meet her look.

"Jab. It's me, Essie Devro. Do you remember?"

She wasn't sure how much the chip had affected his memory.

He remained turned away as he said, "I know I recognised you immediately."

She didn't let the shock from that revelation show and undid his arm from the binders, then perched on the stool next to him.

"Look at me Jab."

"Jac —I don't want to be called that any more, not after what Jab—I've done."

"Jac." She paused, "You don't have to be ashamed. You had no control over your actions, over what the chip was making you do."

He turned and looked at both his hands.

"They were still my hands."

"Is there anything you need?"

" I would like to walk around and stretch my legs. My injury is playing up and…who is the clone?"

"It's Maze. I thought you realised."

"I suspected but then he looked too young."

"Ah yes. That's another surprise for you."

"What?" He looked concerned.

"There's a treatment to reverse the rapid aging."

"There is?" He let out a whistle.

She nodded.

"There were always rumours in the barracks but then after Kamino fell, it was treated as myths and legends. No one ever really believed in it."

"We've got some coming over with a friend but in the meantime," she held her hand out, "do you want to go for a walk?"

He swung his legs over the bunk and put them to the floor, swaying a little as he rose.

"We'll have to get you fed up as well. The treatment can take it out of you."

She held her arm out for him.

"So you and Maze got back together and off Coruscant with General Zey?"

"How?" she wondered how he knew. she had never mentioned Zey.

"Maze was always straight, by the book. You knew where you stood with him— no games. I appreciated that." He let a little smile move his lips for a few seconds, "and I overheard some of them talking about Arligan."

"He will want to see you."

"Yeah—Kriff! I bet that's some story."

"It is, and a long one. We'll tell you about it some day."

"And Del?"

"And Del."

"I look forward to that."

She pushed open the door to see Maze leaning against the wall.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Jac has lots of questions." She said, "But first he just wants to have a walk around."

.

"Here you are!" Essie opened the door to the little additional room they had. It had not been used until now and they would need it again in a few months.

"It's not big but it'll do for now and better than the med bay." She watched his expression, sensing he felt he didn't deserve this, "Mel tells me, we need the room in the med bay."

"Maze alright with this?"

"Of course!"

"Like you tell him everything!"

"I do."

"Your back?"

She stretched up as if to prove him wrong.

"It's just the baby…."

He put his hands on his hips.

"You're standing awkwardly, and stumble sometimes."

"I told you; it's just the baby lying on my spine."

"Don't give me that 'Pregnant women know best' speech."

"And how many pregnant women have you dealt with?"

Jac looked to the ceiling; she'd got him there.

"I'm just saying, let me scan you and then if it isn't the baby….."

"What's wrong with the baby?" Maze's upset gravelly tones emerged directly behind her.

"Gah!" Was all she could say sandwiched between the two determined clones.

.

Essie lay on one side on the medbed in med bay whilst Mel, Jac and a few others looked at the scans. She couldn't see them but could feel their worry. All she could see was Maze, leaning on the wall opposite, arms crossed, glaring at her. She tried a small smile. It didn't work. He was still angry.

She couldn't stop the tears now, as they rolled down her face and hit the sheet; she remembered being like this with Del—emotional.

Maze was at her side in a nanosecond.

"Is it hurting?"

"No." She snuffled. "I just hate it when you're angry with me."

His large hands engulfed hers. "I'm not, just worried." he glanced at the medics, "It looks like a chipped bone on your spine that's moved and …..they want to treat it but unsure which is the best option. Limited Bacta."

She nodded.

The others finally came to stand in front of her.

"We've gone through all the different procedures but the lack of Bacta and the baby complicates things."

"What we need is a Jedi healer experienced in this sort of treatment." Butted in Jac. "And it appears yours are off world, liaising with Gen… Vos."

He was comfortable with his medic mode here.

"You have to remain immobile until it's done." Mel said, as she looked at Maze.

"I'll get on the com to Jusik."

.

You okay?"

Essie walked slowly up to Jac as he called himself now, leaning on her stick. He wanted to start afresh. He'd struggled to settle down, even after his chip was removed but recently he seemed better. He didn't have headaches anymore, although the nightmares were still coming and sometimes, she found him sleeping outside more often than not, especially if it was a warm night. Although he hadn't always been on the streets since he had been decommissioned, he had been there long enough for it to become a habit to sleep outside. One which was difficult to break.

Now there was a tent pitched outside permanently.

The guilt and nightmares had kicked in when his chip deteriorated and the Empire washed their hands of him. So it had been a long time. Senator Skeenah had been right, there had been no provision for the clones as they aged or were injured.

She still mourned his loss.

So many.

She privately thought it was probably a good thing that Jac was no longer with the Empire; the Nulls, whatever you thought of them, kept tabs on what the Empire was doing. There were rumours of what happened to some Clones, and that didn't bear thinking about.

Here he'd have a chance.

"Yeah. Just a bad night."

"I hope Kai didn't disturb you."

"No. I think it would more than likely be me disturbing him."

"The same nightmare?"

He nodded. "It's never going to go away, is it?"

"It should get a little better, with time— mine did."

"They supposedly engineered us to withstand battle stress but what we did was worse than battle, it was murder."

He still saw the younglings lying there.

She couldn't disagree with him.

"How's the scar?"

"Healing well. Did the Captain have one?"

"No. Neither did the Nulls. After them the Alpha's were the next batch, then the first Commando's. It was only with the first generation troopers and the Commanders, then the ones following, that they implanted the chips. From what you've said you're first generation."

The Nulls had learned a lot from the Kaminoans before the destruction of the cloning facility, and even after. They sent a few missions out there to see if anything more could be retrieved from the depths.

He nodded.

"The Alpha's and Commandos were indoctrinated from birth. The chip was a failsafe, we understand. And call him Maze. He's told you to."

"Indoctrinated from birth that sounds worse."

"Maze has a different kind of guilt."

Jac frowned.

"He survived."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Kai—he's a full clone isn't he?"

She nodded.

"How?"

"He was one of the last to be cloned and was moved from Kamino to a planet called Wayland. They did other experiments on them there."

Jac shook his head, "He's okay though."

"He is now. The Nulls found out about it and a rescue mission was undertaken with the Skiratas and a number from here including Zey but we could only get twelve out. The others were too far gone."

"Has he had the anti-aging cure?"

"Yes, and a chip was removed."

"Why only twelve?"

Essie hated talking about this, but he needed to know, "There were many still in growth jars and others had been operated on or were so far, indoctrinated it would have been too dangerous to bring them back. Some clones were loyal to the Empire, knowing no different."

She swallowed, "We had to make a choice."

"Oh."

"They nearly didn't get out. And it's been too dangerous to go back."

"Have they all been adopted?"

"Yes. Most with families on Mandalore."

"Good. He's a good lad but I did wonder why he attached himself to me."

Essie smiled, "I had noticed that."

"How are you feeling….after the treatment on your back.

"No pain but tired."

"You're growing a person inside you," he said with awe in his voice, "you're entitled to be tired."

She smiled at his words; sometimes in the Dark Times she didn't feel entitled to anything she had, when others had it so much worse.

He continued to examine the piece of wood.

"I'm not sure I want the 'Cure.'

He dropped that bombshell on her.

###

Fake medicine - I am not a medic.