A/N: Future ADA- What, you think Jag and Kyp are just going to name the baby while Jaina's still unconscious? :P

Part XXI

They walked in utter silence, only the sound of boots on the metal deck breaking the monotony of the hum of the operating Star Destroyer around them. When they reached her quarters, she stiffly motioned him through first and then stepped through herself, turning to close the door behind them. When it was closed, she turned, opened her mouth to snap at him…

And found herself seized and pulled into a fierce hug. She stiffened, and part of her wanted to struggle against him, but… a small but strong part of her enjoyed the feeling again, and she sighed, waiting for him to release her so she could then yell at him.

"I'm sorry, Jaina," he mumbled against her hair, "Your uncle told me everything, but you can't do this by yourself, you can't-"

She pushed him away and stared at him, eyes wide. "What do you mean, 'everything'?" she demanded. He frowned, but began to look a little hesitant.

"He told me what happened; what Durron did."

Looking away quickly, blinking back infuriating tears that would only make her feel foolish if they spilled over, she seethed silently towards her uncle. After all of that, that he would have the gall to tell her secrets- the one secret she needed kept above all others- to Jag… and then she remembered her exact words:

"You can tell him everything when I'm gone, but it's for the best if we make a clean split of things now."

Shavit.

She sighed, anger melting away somewhat as she realized that her uncle had only done… well, exactly what she'd said he could do- though she expected that he damn well knew what she'd really meant. "Look… Jag…"

"You don't have to say anything," he hurriedly assured her. "And I… understand why you left. But I'm not giving you up that easily."

She laughed humorlessly. "You said he told you everything, right? He told you that I'm pregnant, Jag?"

"Yes," he said simply, slowly approaching her again. "And?"

"And…" she trailed away, scowling, staring at the floor. And what? "And… and it isn't your baby, Jag!"

"So?" That same, damned, simple and innocently cavalier tone.

"So," she bit, "this isn't your responsibility."

He looked at her, surprise etched on his features, green eyes startled. And then, most infuriatingly of all, a slow and wide smile spread across his face, and he pulled her against him once more. "Oh, Jaina," he sighed. "You think that's why I'm here? Because I feel like I should be? Jaina," he pulled away and tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes, "I'm here because I want to be here; because I want to be with you; because I love you."

He kissed her.

X-X-X-X

The smallest beacon of warmth came from deep inside her heart, and she clung to it, willing it to dispel the cold, the sorrow, the emptiness… the pain.

And it did hurt. She ached, all over, and returning to unconsciousness didn't sound like a bad plan, truth be told. But that damned warm touch, familiar but not, was still there, making her pause, reconsider. There'd been so little warmth lately, and she vaguely wondered why that was… and then she sensed someone approaching, and she tensed.

It took a moment longer to register that she hadn't felt much of anything in the Force lately, and the return of sensation made her panic slightly… but a reassuring brush touched her mind, and she tried to relax as she felt for that place deep inside, that invisible force-field surrounding something so fragile…

But there was nothing. No shield, no barrier protecting an innocent and vulnerable life…

No life at all…

With tremendous effort, she forced her eyes open at the same moment that a hand took hers. "Jaina," a familiar voice whispered, "it's okay now; wake up." Kyp's face hovered before her, his eyes were warm and he smiled encouragingly. "You're alright now…"

She felt her lip trembling and she bit it. "What happened?" she whispered, attempting to move to sit up… he pressed a hand to her shoulder and she relaxed back again. "I hurt…"

"I know," he murmured, brushing a lock of hair from her forehead. "But everything is going to be okay."

"The baby?"

Something flickered in his eyes. "You have a son, Jaina. He was early, Tekli has been giving him some bacta treatments for his lungs, but… he'll be okay. He's a little fighter."

Her eyes watered. "What aren't you telling me, Kyp? You're hiding something."

His smile only broadened, infuriating her for no real reason. "Do you want to see him, Jaina?"

Hesitating a moment, eyeing Kyp suspiciously, she nodded jerkily. He turned slowly and disappeared from her sightline for a moment. She closed her eyes again, and brought a weary hand up to wipe away the moisture accumulating there. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she reached out ever so tentatively and felt new presences approaching, and the warm feeling amplified… she froze.

"Jaina." She stiffened even more. "Sweetheart, open your eyes." She shook her head adamantly, and the familiar but impossible voice chuckled lowly. "Why not?"

"Because it won't be you and it'll break me all over again."

A soft hand brushed her face and she let out a dry sob. "It's me, darling. I'm so sorry, for everything, but I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere…"

Soft lips pressed against her forehead, then her cheek, then her mouth. She opened her eyes slowly, terrified, and found pale green ones looking warmly back into hers. "Hey," he whispered. She let out a gasping breath and reached up to grasp the hand that still rested against her cheek, gripping tightly and blinking quickly through tears. "I'm here, Jaina, I'm here…"

"How?" she cried softly.

He kissed her again before answering. "They lied to you, sweetheart, they lied. It doesn't matter now though, because I'm here and I'm not leaving you, ever again, and they will never come after you, they'll never hurt you, or Leyla, or our son…"

Our son…

She blinked and glanced past Jag to where Kyp stood with a hand on Leyla's shoulder… and gently cradled in the girl's arms was a small white bundle. With a gentle prod from Kyp, she walked slowly forward, grinning from ear to ear. Jag straightened and reached out to take the baby from her, and he turned back to Jaina, smiling softly.

"Do you want to hold him?" She nodded, wide-eyed, and he lowered the small bundle of blankets down into the crook of her arm by her side. Turning as much as was comfortable, she shakily brought her other hand over and touched the small face gingerly.

"He's so tiny," her voice quavered.

"He'll be okay," Kyp broke in softly.

"He's so… pink," she crinkled her nose.

Jag laughed, and the sound warmed her heart. "It's just the effect of the bacta."

For a long time, she studied the little face until the infant finally opened his eyes and blinked sleepily up at her. Something tightened in her stomach, made her heart flutter, and her words came out as barely more than a whisper. "He's perfect."

"Yes," Jag came around to the other side of the bed and sat gently beside her, unable to draw her into his arms as he wanted, but there, beside her, his hand resting against her waist, looking over her shoulder as she twisted slightly to the side and tenderly regarded the waking baby. "He is."

X-X-X-X

"It's a girl, sweetheart." A brief pause… "She… she's beautiful."

Her voice was little more than a tired mumble. "Nothing that's less than a minute old is beautiful."

"Well give them a couple of minutes to check her out and clean her up, and then you can see for yourself."

"Won't count anymore, she'll be more than a minute old…"

Jag laughed softly and returned to the bedside, leaning over to kiss her sweaty face, pink from exertion and exhaustion. Her eyes closed at his touch, and she blindly felt for his hand, squeezing it gently. "Are you alright?" he murmured, reaching out to sweep damp hair from her forehead. She merely nodded, too tired to do much but rest her eyes and try not to think too hard.

Before long, one of the medical droids- acquired for them by Syal, specifically designed for midwifery, and with an easily-wiped memory, for when this was all said and done- swept back over to them with a bundle of blankets carefully cradled in two of its four arms- a bundle that was crying rather insistently.

"You have a healthy daughter, Miss Solo," the droid informed her. "Despite being born twenty days early, she is a healthy weight- two point eight kilos." Jag accepted the baby from the droid with an awe in his eyes that made Jaina smile softly… though her brows contracted a bit nervously when Jag made to hand the child to her.

"She won't bite," Jag whispered, before pausing. "Well… I guess she might… but she doesn't have any teeth, so…"

"Oh, just let me hold her!"

Grinning, he carefully laid the tiny, crying baby in Jaina's cradled arm and watched as her entire face went from trepidation to a softened tenderness while she looked for the first time upon her daughter. "Hi there, little one," she murmured. The baby stopped crying mostly, and Jag couldn't tell if Jaina was doing something to soothe her through the Force, or if she just liked being in her mother's arms. "You are a pretty little thing, aren't you?"

"Yes, she is," Jag agreed. "Just like her mother." Even after everything, the stress of the past several months, the stress of the past several hours… he still managed to coax a little blush out of her. "Did you decide on a name?"

"Leyla," Jaina whispered instantly.

He tried to place it. "Is that Corellian?"

"Selonian," she nodded, and then hesitated. "It means… dark beauty. And… for a daughter of war, a daughter of…" she trailed away, didn't finish the thought, couldn't finish it. Because at that moment, soft little eyes, newborn-blue, blinked blearily up at her, and the tender innocence reflected in them was almost too much for her to handle, after everything she'd felt through the long months of her pregnancy… anger, fear, frustration… to have something so pure…

"Oh, Kyp," she cried softly, hugging the baby to her and letting her tears fall freely down her cheeks.

Jag squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, and leaned over to kiss her cheek, understanding at least in part what was going through her mind at that moment. "Shh," he murmured, "it's all going to be alright. I promise."

"You can't promise."

He smiled down at her. "Why don't you get some rest, sweetheart. I'll keep an eye on our little girl."

Her eyes started to drift closed even as he was lifting Leyla from her arms… and then they opened again and sought his carefully. "Our little girl?" she repeated.

"Yes," he studied the little face, watched as she yawned and her little fingers moved randomly. "I can tell already- Leyla is going to have me wrapped around her little finger before we know it."

X-X-X-X

Later that day, after both Jaina and the still-nameless baby had rested some more after the stressful happenings of the day prior, Jag quietly entered the room, infant in his arms, and brought him to the bed where Tekli had finally given Jaina permission to sit semi-upright- after a couple of hours in bacta, anyway.

"Dinner time," he murmured. Grinning, he flashed a little bottle from his pocket as he lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. "Do you want the honors?"

Her incredulous look made him laugh, and he carefully passed their son between them. The boy let out a soft cry as he changed hands, and Jag squeezed his tiny hand gently as he let him go. "It's astounding, the things that can be done with the Force…" he murmured, eyeing the little thing. "Ten months…"

Her gut clenched as she carefully maneuvered the baby into proper position. With stiff movements, she took the bottle from Jag and watched in ever-present fascination as the little mouth latched on and sucked greedily, remembering what it had been like twelve years prior when Leyla was an infant…

"What you must have thought…" she murmured. "I'm sorry, Jag."

He draped a gentle arm around her shoulders. "Sweetheart, please… don't even think about that." He paused and swallowed heavily. "Kyp wouldn't let me tell you this morning… but this…" he glanced sadly at the tiny being in her arms, at the monitors attached to her. "This is my fault, Jaina."

"What do you mean?" she frowned lightly, distracted still by the hungry baby, watching his little fingers flex randomly in the air as he drank.

"I-" his voice broke slightly. "When Zekk and I got here, I wasn't intending to stay," she turned sharply in surprise. "My father urged me not to come back, said that he and Formbi and Ashik could handle things, and I agreed… and then we contacted my mother, and when she said that you were pregnant… I'm sorry, Jaina, I'm so sorry," he looked down, eyes red.

"Don't be," she murmured. "You, your mother- Wedge- only believed exactly what you were intended to believe. There was to be no doubt, Jag, we couldn't let them think that he was yours…"

Jag nodded glumly. "But I was so angry, sweetheart- at Kyp. I needed to see you, but I chose to confront him first. And Zekk knew that, if your uncle realized we were here, he would stop us from returning to regroup with my father, so we had to hide our presences…"

"Ysalamiri," she whispered, eyes widening marginally.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, sliding off the bed and beginning to pace in frustration, running a hand through his hair agitatedly. "I could have killed you, killed the baby… almost did," he wiped angrily at tears escaping onto his cheeks. "Because of my kriffing jealousy."

She set the bottle down and reached her hand out, urging him to come back to her. "Jag, please- you didn't know, you couldn't have, you had no reason to suspect what would happen if the connection between Kyp and myself was cut, I didn't even know what would happen. Everything's fine now- I'm alright, our child is alright… we're together again, don't let us start afresh with regret."

A long silence ensued during which Jag settled back down on the bed and Jaina resumed feeding the boy.

"Naviin."

"Hm?" she half-turned her head.

He twisted around and reached out to cup her face, running a thumb along her cheek. "Naviin- in Cheunh, it means 'new beginnings.' What better name for this baby born of an utter miracle?"

Smiling broadly, removing the half-empty bottle from the mouth of the infant who was gradually drifting asleep once more, Jaina set it down and reached out to touch the little hand, felt the tiny fingers flex unconsciously against her palm. "Naviin Fel," she murmured. "Welcome to the family."

X-X-X-X

That evening, Luke finally found time to sit down with a mildly abashed Zekk, and he studied him carefully for a long minute while the tall young Jedi sat looking like a reprimanded student. "So," Luke leaned back in his seat, "a bit more than just a simple fact-finding mission?"

"I apologize for being so abrupt when we last spoke," he smiled apologetically. "But there was nothing I could say, and we were in too deep to back out."

"Did you know then? That Jag and Soontir- and Formbi- were alive?"

Zekk shook his head. "No, though certain inconsistencies about the explosion on the ship, the reports filed, the syndic we finally pinned it on… clearly something bigger was happening, and as we tracked movements around the fleet, on the syndic's home planet… something didn't add up. The possibility had crossed my mind, and everyone else's, but I didn't want to say something and then have it turn out to be wild speculation."

Luke nodded his understanding. "So what happens now?"

"The Aristocra, Ashik, Baron Fel, and… Davik… are compiling the necessary evidence against the conspirators and Formbi and Ashik will see justice served. And in the meantime… Tahlia's got their backs."

"And the Fels?"

He shrugged. "They aren't returning to the Ascendancy, and if the Chiss ever tried to touch them again… they'd be exiled or executed, if the conspirators aren't already after Formbi is through with them. The one thing worse than treason in Chiss society- according to Baron Fel- is the failure to even execute the treason properly."

For a long time, Luke considered him, and Zekk met his calculating gaze evenly. "Now that everything is straightening itself out, and Jaina and her baby are on the mend… Zekk, what happened yesterday? All I've really gathered is that you and Jag intended to… what? See Jaina and take off again?"

Zekk flushed. "Master Skywalker, that was a foolish plan, and I'm sorry. But Jag… originally, the plan was for me to bring him here, sneak him in quietly, the idea being to keep him laid low until Formbi makes his move. But just before we were to separate, the baron established a heavily-encrypted link with his wife on Corellia- some secure, private channel that she's continued to monitor, even after all this time. And… she didn't want Jag to come in unawares. So she told us that Jaina was pregnant, confirmed to Wedge by Leia… and that she'd been sharing quarters with Kyp since they relocated to Ossus.

"Jag was stunned at first, and then utterly devastated," Luke winced, but motioned him to continue. "And as we made the long jump to Ossus, he decided that he should be there for his family, for Ashik who had risked so much on his behalf… but he wanted to see Jaina, wanted to know if it was too late."

"But he went to Kyp first," Luke remarked evenly.

"Yeah, well," Zekk grinned guiltily. "He was smart enough not to just surprise her, but trying to keep under the radar- under your radar… it was tricky. So he asked me to find her, to tell her that he was alive first… and in the meantime, he went to tell Kyp that he would fight for her if he had to."

A slight smile touched the corners of Luke's mouth. "I notice Kyp has a nice mark from that encounter…"

Zekk grimaced. "I think Jag feels pretty bad about that now, actually. But anyway, before Kyp could explain, Jaina collapsed, they rushed to the med center… Master Skywalker, he never meant to hurt her, not even when he thought…" he trailed off and looked away.

"I know," Luke assured him. "As does Jaina, as does Kyp." He paused. "But I have to ask… you just happened to have ysalamiri around…?"

The young Jedi smirked. "We may have borrowed it from the syndic's estate… strange, he seemed awfully convinced that the Jedi would be coming after him sooner or later…"

Luke just shook his head and sighed. "Convenient." Zekk flushed and looked down, and Luke spoke soothingly. "You didn't know, you couldn't have. And what was almost tragedy has transformed into an impossibly happy reunion, and the start of a new life."

"What will happen with Jag now? Isn't his plan to go unnoticed a little blown?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't think so- he and Kyp passed some people in the corridors yesterday, but otherwise, he's been sequestered in the med center, Tekli was able to cordon off Jaina's end of that wing. And once she's recovered, and the baby is ready to be away from constant medical supervision, he can just hunker down in the cabin that she's been sharing with Kyp all this time. One way or another though, the Chiss on the whole will know what happened, and then the galaxy at large- anyone who was involved in the kidnapping will have realized long before now that they've lost any chance of recapturing them before the Ruling Families are made aware. For now, the best we can do is keep him out of sight and avoid saying too much."

"Saying too much?"

Luke grinned. "I had someone contact Han, Leia, and Jacen yesterday when they were preparing to operate on Jaina. Jacen wasn't too far away, out on a mission, he should be here mid-day tomorrow, and Han and Leia the next morning. Now that everyone is okay, I think I can take a little enjoyment out of seeing their faces when they find Jag here, safe and sound…"