It was supposed to be over by now, but the tidbit bullshit seemed to stretch on. Leia asked Kess and Luke to help reorganize the Red Guard and Alliance Security forces into a singular Senate Guard to keep the Federal Complex safe. That project took several days. Several groups sought them out to start mediation services for issues too isolated to burden immensity of the full Senate or too urgent to wait for the Senate to get fully organized. At first, Luke and Kess tried to jump in and help, but it was difficult to manage vehement arguments in the public display of the coliseum lobby. With the shipment of personal effects still scattered about the apartment, the place was in no shape to host dozens of political operatives, and they had no other neutral location in which to facilitate the mediations to conclusion.

The donated time of the assistants expired the moment the Chamberlain took the spire. Artoo was instrumental in delivering messages, and that helped, but Eye-D was the property of the apartment complex, which limited his available range from the building. They assigned the house droid to the comm terminal as a focal point to receive all the messages and started receiving requests of all kinds. Requests for mediations. Requests for newsnet interviews. Requests for dinner parties from politicians that wanted to show off their new connections. . . .

Politically, they couldn't turn any of it down. They needed donations to start rolling in, and to do that, they needed to advertise (tastefully) their continuing service as Neutral Jedi. With difficulty, they managed to press back all these invitations with assurances that they would get to them all eventually, but they needed some time to sort out their own facilities first.

Probably because of those mediation mishaps, rumors started circulating about the new-formed Senate Appropriations Committee assigning the Jedi a group of offices, specifically located inside the Federal Complex so they would be close by to help with all the political turmoil that still needed unraveling. Luke sent a message with full of appreciation of the gesture but was firm that they could only accept it if the Jedi didn't have to pay rent on the preciously located office space. (Kess expected that meant the answer would be 'no' and wondered secretly if they were going to end up operating out of some reclaimed section of the Jedi Temple ruins in the underworks . . . with the rats.)

She felt like they were waiting for something. Waiting for this life to become routine. Waiting for Coruscant to feel like home. Waiting to get back to the clearing. . . . That impossible thought brought her to find a second wind of patience and push ahead with the What's Next of it all.

But she felt she had a kind of secret weapon now, because she wasn't facing it all this by herself. There was no expectation of public displays of affection, but there was no hesitation for a supportive hug or a holding hand when they were alone. And it wasn't about hiding anything, Kess learned. A newsnet shoved a vidcam in their faces with intruding questions about that big kiss before the launch. Kess hardly had a chance to consider an appropriate response before Luke answered, and he said it directly at the vidcam as though it was a stupid question. "We're mating." And he walked away with a shrug.

Not that any actual 'mating' was happening these days, but they acted like they were. Once, her temper flared when a Senator yelled at her in front of everyone, so Luke stepped in to take the brunt of it and covered for her so she could hide in the bathroom to calm down for a few minutes. Another time, he grew frustrated with the circular logic of an arrogant politician, so Kess took over and allowed Luke a chance to hide away in an empty office so he could growl and rage without anyone witnessing it. When they finally dragged their weary minds back to the apartment at night, one would cook dinner while the other meditated at length in a spare bedroom. And it became habit that she always took her shower first and he stepped in immediately afterwards. It was the only moment of their day they saw each other naked, and that was no longer a significant event, but they were both too weary do anything with the opportunity.

The only invitation they didn't postpone was a lunch meeting in Leia's new 'Chamberlain' offices, and that turned out to be not much more than a business meeting where Luke and Kess learned of things to which they were not otherwise privy. Chewie was ever-present at Leia's side because he now served officially as the Chamberlain's personal bodyguard. Yana didn't know it yet, but she had a reserved spot on Leia's research team once the woman got out of the hospital. Rogue Group was reorganized as 'Division One', based now in an old TIE fighter pad near the airport and refitted with A-Wings instead of X-wings. The Falcon was going to be fine, but Red Five, unfortunately, had to be scrapped.

As for the Jedi side of things, Leia pressured them to hire an assistant to start sorting out all the mediation requests and set up offices somewhere. She suggested they start a public channel to express what resource donations they needed, for not everyone wanted to donate in the form of money. Case in point, Ambassador Danje was successful to get the Serra Six to each donate one month's rent on their apartment. She also informed them she had assigned one of her accountants to keep a secured eye on the Jedi Account to watch for any illegal taps against the balance, but she urged them to review the expenses since scrutiny on that issue was already coming in from the public. Living on Coruscant was expensive.

Luke put down his fork and propped his elbows so he could hide his eyes in his hands. His clenched jaw brought on a moment of concerned silence among the four of them. Under the table, Kess reached over and put a hand on his knee, but she too closed her eyes to calm herself from the stress.

Leia clasped her hands in front of her mouth and watched them with respect. Chewie hooted a gentle suggestion that the two needed to take a day off.

To this, Luke opened his eyes and challenged the two of them in return. "Have you taken a day off?"

"Yes." Leia eyed him as though she was scolding him for it. "He may not be here, but I still follow his guidance. I stop at twenty hundred every night and block out the galaxy every Benduday. I couldn't keep up this pace if I didn't."

Luke pressed a sympathetic mouth and nodded. "How's the baby?"

"Growing," Leia said with a smile in her sad eye. "Luke, I need you to not burn out on me. I'm going to need you both in top condition when this 'apprentice' arrives with a Han Solo attitude."

This brought about sad grins from them all.

"Battles are easy," Leia told them. "Mediation is hard. Organization takes a long time, and a lot of patience, but the more you organize the easier it all gets."

Luke took in a deep breath and met his sister's wiser eyes.

Leia insisted it gently, "This is the long haul. This is what we were fighting for. Don't burn out on me now."

Kess watched Luke lower his eyes and nod. His hand came down to his knee and squeezed hers, holding it there. He returned to eating but noted humbly, "I agree with all that, but Leia, we don't have much to organize. We need the Academy to start training help, and we need the help to get through all this muck before we can start putting together the Academy." With another sigh, he rubbed his eyebrow with the heal of his palm.

Leia shined a loving smile at him. "Luke, you reap what you sew."

He hitched a tired laugh. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Leia picked up her fork and shined a glint from under her eyebrows. "Have you even looked at what you have to organize?"

Kess cocked her head. Luke considered Leia for a long moment.

The Chamberlain spoke as if this was a secret. "Take a few days off from the political arena and sort out what you already have."

The hint was strong enough without the arched brow or the ripple on the Force of a sister telling a brother to 'quit being an idiot', but Kess couldn't tell if this was Leia's way of saying there was plenty in the Jedi Account already, or if she was talking about some resource they had yet to discover.

Either way, the suggestion was convincing enough. As soon as the lunch was over, Luke cornered Kess in a quiet spot in the hall and asked her vote about taking a week away from the politics to just to focus on sorting everything out.

Kess agreed with an abundance of relief. "Please! We need to do laundry. We need to unpack. We need to program Eye-D with a visitor's access list. We need to find a way for you to get your adrenaline fix so you're not bouncing off the walls like you have been." She rubbed her own face with her palms and chuckled through a weary groan.

Luke eyed her curiously. "If you wanted to do this so badly, why didn't you suggest it?"

She crossed her arms at her chest and admitted supportively. "Because I know you don't like to take Bendudays off."

"But I do like to take Bendudays off," he smiled a shy whine.

"Then why didn't you ever want to take a day off when I was training?" She accused playfully.

He stepped forward only to lower his face closer and lower his voice softer, "Because you are how I take a day off."

Kess recognized the truth with a warm smile in her soul: she would have burned out a long time ago if she didn't have him so securely by her side. And she was beginning to realize that he, too, would have burned out by now if he didn't have her. The only certain resource they had was each other.

And that made all the difference.