Jaina-Elessar: Falat is bad. Bad, bad, bad. As for Devnos, though…g There is definitely more to him than meets the eye. Thanks for reading!

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Chapter Six: "Zekk is not Onyx"

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Jaina felt tears spring into her eyes, and the next thing she knew, her mother was holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe. The resurrected girl had wanted to berate Leia – had wanted to demand why she had abandoned her, and why she hadn't done something to help her. But this… Leia was crying too, and it occurred to Jaina that her mother had lost three children and countless friends.

Interrogation could wait.

Barely, Jaina heard words bubble out of her mother's mouth, but she couldn't possibly comprehend them. A glow spread through her; for the first time in years, she knew her mother loved her. It was unbelievable, and she felt tears begin to slide town her face. She could have forgiven Leia almost anything at that point.

"We felt Jacen disappear," Jaina was just able to hear her mother say. "And then Aarie felt you die…and I thought I'd never be able to…" Leia pulled away, but still cupped Jaina's face with her hands. "Oh Force, it's you…my daughter…"

A smile broke out on Jaina's face and she couldn't have possibly controlled it. "It's me," she agreed with a laugh as she wiped some of her tears away, only to have them replaced.

Leia hugged her once more, then wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her into the front room. "Your father's just down at the landing bay – the Falcon's acting up again, of course." She laughed, and, through bleary, tear-filled eyes, Jaina saw the woman her father fell for.

At the thought, she blushed, embarrassed to have forgotten Garik and…Zekk.

Your mother's not going to forgive that, Solo, the voice taunted. Can't you see Leia grabbing her lightsaber and attacking?

Jaina hesitated, but her mother didn't notice. "Han," she was almost crying into the comm unit. "Come quickly! You won't… Oh, Han."

Vaguely, Jaina heard her father's startled, worried questions, but her mother kept saying, "Oh, just come…it's alright…it's perfect – you'll see. Oh, Han…"

When Leia hung up, Jaina stepped back a little before she could be engulfed in a hug again. "Mom, I…uh, I brought someone, and I know you probably won't like it, but I swear it's him again…"

Maybe her joy had gone to her head, or maybe she didn't want to know, because Leia just looked at her, still crying a little and smiling. "Who?"

Jaina almost cracked. She hadn't heard that much love and tenderness in her mom's voice since she was a kid. Could she just bring Zekk in so quickly?

You have to; it's Zekk, Solo, not Onyx. You did what they thought you couldn't do. He came back; you can't be the one to abandon him.

She shook her head and wiped her sweaty palms on her pants. What had she been thinking? "It's Zekk, Mom. I did it – he did it." Jaina didn't bother to try to dampen the joy in her eyes and smile as Zekk shuffled into the room, followed by Garik and his suspicion. "He came back."

Leia blinked, almost robotically, five times. "Zekk," she said flatly. "Zekk." This time, it was with more vehemence.

Jaina only felt a surge in the Force before she clamped down – hard – on her mother's shoulder. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," she hissed, all softness gone now. The mother/daughter moment had passed; their differences were, once again, coming to the front.

Leia attempted to twist out of Jaina's grip, but only found herself more tightly pinned – with the Force this time. She let go of her lightsaber hilt, but the young woman knew her mother was in no way relaxed.

She also knew she couldn't blame Leia.

Zekk's eyes flickered up to Leia's hate-filled ones for a second, then flew down. He looked, Jaina thought despairingly, like he wanted to curl up in a ball and die. "I – "

Leia tried to jump forward once more, but Jaina's Force use did not falter, not even when her mother used her considerable power to batter Jaina's defences. "Don't say a word," she said, ice taking over her voice.

"Princess?"

Jaina's gaze flew to the doorway to see the salt-and-peppered hair of her father. Slowly, her eyes were able to comprehend the event, and she saw his eyes, his crooked nose, and his craggy, tanned skin. Her grip on Leia loosened, but no one moved. "Daddy."

He must not have seen Zekk, or maybe he didn't care. The next thing she knew, she was being hugged so tightly that she literally felt her breath stop, but the River held little threat over her now and so she stayed. "I told them they were wrong," she heard him say gruffly. "I told them they had to be wrong; you're a…a survivor…just like your old man."

Jaina recognized the cracking of his voice as joy, and she looked up at him. "Kriff death," she agreed, her smile threatening to crack her face.

Leia dragged her attention away from the father/daughter reunion and back to the…filth that stood in the middle of the room, staring at his feet. "Han," she said through clenched teeth.

Her husband looked up, looking happier than she had seen him in ages. "We'll have to have a party – Force knows people need a reason to celebrate."

Jaina looked ready to protest, but Leia interrupted her. "She brought him here." She pointed at Zekk.

Han obliged her insistent pointing. "Oh, that's…" He stopped. "Onyx." When he looked down at Jaina, there was a hurt question in his eyes.

The resurrected woman's eyes widened. "He's normal again, Dad, I promise – you can trust him."

"He killed your brothers," Han muttered, his hand drifting to his blaster.

"Onyx killed Anakin – and I assure you there's a 180 degree difference in the guy before you," Jaina pleaded.

"And Jacen?"

Jaina's eyes shut for an instant, then reopened, more sombre than before. "Brakiss…" She choked a little and cleared her throat, appearing slightly bewildered, before continuing. "Brakiss was torturing him; it would have taken him days to die. Onyx…did kill him, but only to spare him the pain!" she hurried to say, holding her dad's hand so it wouldn't grab his blaster. "Please, Daddy – I swear on my life, you can trust him."

Leia felt tears rush forward, and her anger rose. "He killed half the Jedi and my sons!" she shrieked.

Jaina stepped over to Zekk, grabbing his hand tightly to steady herself. "Onyx did," she repeated, eyes clouding.

Her mother stepped forward to do something when –

Zekk barely caught Jaina before she collapsed. A quick scan told him that it was happening again.

"Don't!" Jaina babbled, choking. "Dev – please – I didn't find…don't, please…leave me alone!" She whipped an arm out, trying to contact with someone's face, but Zekk caught it and held her tightly.

"Where's the bedroom?" he asked tersely, face strained as Jaina continued to struggle.

Leia was the first to answer, always cool in a crisis, though bewildered and more than a little frightened by what was happening. "Just there," she said, pointing to the door to the left before opening it.

Han strode over to take Jaina, but Zekk ignored him, rising swiftly with Jaina in his arms and following the princess-turned-diplomat-turned-refugee. Unseen, Garik, in turn, strode behind Zekk with his eyes as twin storm clouds.

Jaina thrashed violently when Zekk placed her on the bed, and he slipped his arms around her, giving her reassurance. Only imperceptibly was the difference detected within the struggling young woman.

"What…?" Leia's voice wavered into the silence that had descended over them, save Jaina's incoherent babbles.

Zekk barely glanced up at Leia, but his eyes flashed. "She died, Mrs. Solo, and was only barely resurrected; did you think she hadn't changed?"

Noting the tempest the brewed in Leia's eyes, Garik queried, "What is the cause of her fit?" His glacial tone hid his concern.

Zekk did look up then, if only because he was surprised to realize that the other man was still there. "Sanar was able to anchor Jaina's spirit, even after Jaina died. Sanar could only do that by bonding with her." Jaina stilled but, other than to reposition the woman so her back was against him, the dark-haired man didn't loosen his embrace.

"Sanar?" Garik prompted, stepping forward to gently brush Jaina's hair aside. Her face was pale and drawn; in the short period of time, her hair had become slightly damp with sweat. Unlike before, however, the distortion of her face was only from uneasiness during the sleep into which she had slid.

Zekk's expression softened as his gaze landed on Jaina. "A slave with a large dollop of Force potential and an even bigger chip in her shoulder. I guess she was in a good mood, because she acted a lot faster than I was able to."

The Solo daughter stirred and her eyes began to open. A yawn split her face. "Zekk?" she murmured.

He squeezed her shoulders, ignoring the expressions on the others' faces. "Right here. You had another freakout; do you remember anything?"

Her eyes closed for a moment, but when they opened Garik could still read nothing in them. Silence stretched between the group, and the diplomat was quite sure that the couple was communicating through the Force. Jaina's parents appeared frozen; Garik himself felt as if sludge crawled through his veins.

Why did he have the distinct feeling this was kriffing Solo's fault? Kriffing Jedi, he grumbled, as his mind was the only thing that seemed to be working properly. Don't they have a rule against them playing with others' blood?

"Fine," Zekk said at last, and the scene once more changed. "We'll talk later."

Well, you don't need to be snippy about how she only trusts you, Garik thought, just a little sourly. It appeared that his days as Jaina's confidant were significantly over.

Jaina's hair swung as she disentangled herself from Zekk's arms. "Mom, Dad, Garik," she said evenly, "Zekk is not Onyx. I'm going to ask you one last time to trust me, and not hurt Zekk. He saved my life as much as Sanar did."

Without waiting for a reply, she stood. "And I need to speak to Tenel Ka." Her hands twisted, and one lifted to touch a side pocket on her jacket. "Garik, would you come with me? This'll be a delicate moment." She winced as her mind came up with several undesirable conversations that could be had between herself and the warrior princess. "To say the least."

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Please R&R!

.Tjz