-Listen-

After the council meeting, Kyp goes back to his quarters. He still has the reports Luke wanted him to read, and he figures it would be best if he not distract Jaina while she gives her statement.

It irritates him that this mess with Jag has happened, but he knows deep down that Emperor Fel would never have gone away quietly. Kyp hates how upset Jaina is over it. Her pain was supposed to stop when she left the guy, but her ex still manages to make her life difficult.

He's trying not to think about how his relationship with Jaina has changed. It doesn't seem real, and he's afraid that he's going to wake any moment, find himself asleep with his head on his desk, and it will have been a very strange dream.

There is a chime at his door, and he says, "Enter". He's stared at the same chart for ten minutes now, making neither heads nor tails of it, and he realises he's more distracted than Jaina would be.

The door opens and Leia comes in. He'd been expecting Han, not his wife, and he has a second of fear. There is one person in the galaxy that intimidates him, and that is Leia Solo.

He sets the datapad down as she enters. Dressed in a simple tunic and trousers, both a dusty blue-purple, she takes the chair opposite him at his desk. For a moment, she doesn't speak, just looks around his office.

She's letting him sweat, and they both know it.

Since he knows better than to potentially mouth off to Leia, he waits.

When she speaks, it's with a tinge of amusement. She knows she scares him. "I'll get straight to the point. You and Jaina."

"You told me on Hapes that if I hurt her, I'd be safer with the Vong," he says softly.

Her brown eyes widen just a little. "You remember."

"Of course I remember. I've lived my life by that ever since." He rests his elbows on the desk, laces his fingers together.

"Well, there go all my prepared threats."

They both smile, and Kyp realises that while Leia might not be fond of him, she no longer despises him.

He says, "As far as I'm concerned, Jaina is calling the shots right now, and I'm going to let her. I'd cut my own arm off with a spoon before I hurt her. I'm here to be what she needs when she needs it."

"That's very selfless of you."

"That's love." There, he's admitted it aloud. He loves Jaina.

"I'm glad to hear it." Then, "Why a spoon?"

"Because it's dull. It'd hurt more."

Leia chuckles. After a moment, her expression turns serious. "I'm worried about her. That she'll do something rash and stupid."

"What, like start dating me?"

"No. I don't know what, just… Something."

Kyp nods. "I am, too. But Jaina is an adult and very headstrong. Best I can hope for is to try to direct the energy towards something more …"

"Productive?"

"That general direction, yeah."

Leia says, "I never approved. But I admit that I am not perfect, and I am very protective of my daughter. I misjudged who you are, as if you're still sixteen."

He rolls his shoulders. He knows what everyone thinks of him. He's spent over three decades trying to make up for Carida. "I love her, Leia. She will only get the best from me, for as long as I can manage that, because that's what she deserves."

Her smile is wry. "I should have given the threatening mother speech to Jag, not you."

"Or both of us. Realistically, he seemed like the more responsible, stable one," he admits. "We couldn't have known this would happen."

Leia rises. "I should go before Jaina catches me in here."

"You're welcome to talk any time, Leia," he says.

"You really have matured, haven't you?"

He smirks. "There's no need to be insulting."

She laughs, and leaves without another word.