Sarai and Helena Garza sat in soft chairs well away from the sleeping colonel, talking quietly. They head a light knock rather than the door chime, and Sarai crossed to find Felix bringing pastries. She thanked him, and he left after a hug. Sarai brought the plate with the delicious smells to her friend. "You have to try these, Miriah is truly an amazing baker."

Helena smiled wanly at her friend, but took a small bite. Her eyes opened wide, and she took another bite. "No kidding, she is amazing!" They ate in silence, and didn't see that the colonel had been awakened by the aroma of cinnamon. He sat up slowly, blinking, and looked around. When he stood, the women both realized he was awake and Garza spoke to him. "Gregor, can you hear me?"

Jurin turned his head to her voice, but couldn't respond verbally. He managed to nod once, and shuffled over to them, following his nose to the pastries. He hesitantly took one, and the scared look on his face was replaced by pure joy when he bit into the cinnamon roll. He took it over to the sofa and sat, engrossed in eating and enjoying it.

Sarai reached out with the force and sent Magdalane a message to come back over. In a few seconds, her very pregnant daughter was entering the general's apartment, a serene smile on her face. Calm radiated from her, and as she approached Jurin he looked up and tried to smile. She gently put her hand on his, and her force aura flared, making him close his eyes against the brilliant light. When the light from her aura dimmed, he opened his eyes to see her start to move away. He grabbed the young woman's hand with his own, his fear and anxiety plain on his face. She infused Gregor with calm, seeing him relax, and he gave her a small nod as she moved away. Magdalane crossed to where the two women sat, and joined them .

"He's beginning to have some thought processes again, obviously, and making connections. There's still a lot of damage, and he may have a long recovery ahead. Let's try to reorient him slowly, no overload of information or anything, and maybe get Elara Dorne up here to check him out. Officially we might say he's had a stroke, the symptoms are very similar anyway." She turned to the general. "He recognizes you, and has great affection for you. He'll trust you implicitly, but he might not tolerate a lot of questions. He's not able to verbalize, and I highly doubt his motor skills will allow him to write." She sighed. "He's there, at least, but trapped."

Garza sniffed, and sighed as well. "I'll do whatever you think best, Magdalane. Your diplomatic background will be of great help in negotiating this." She watched the poor man thoroughly enjoy his cinnamon roll and smiled, her heart shining in her eyes. Sarai glanced up at Mags and smiled at her daughter.

"We'll leave you alone, Helena. Maybe now you can both rest. As soon as it gets a little later, we'll get in touch with Dorne." Garza nodded, and the two older women hugged. Sarai followed Mags to their apartment in silence.

It was still in the wee hours of the morning, and Corso had left the decryption running and gone back to bed with Miriah. Aric and Maura occupied the long sofa, and Felix was settled in the oversized chair. Mags approached him, and he rose, taking her hand and leading her to their room. Sarai went to lie back down as well, and soon they were all resting.

Hours later, Corso could see the faint light of morning as he lay in bed, having been awakened by his Miriah, her warm lips placing kisses down his chest. He sighed in relaxed contentment, hearing her with their son, giggling and singing to him. She's in a great mood today, he thought. After that wake up, I am too. He smiled to himself, thinking he was the luckiest guy in the galaxy, and then his thoughts turned to Jurin and the decryption that was still running. He still had a healthy mistrust of the colonel, but would do whatever he could to help him recover. He sat up just as Devin rounded the doorway, launching himself into the bed, his little arms going around his dad's neck. "Morning, son," Corso told him, smiling at him. When Miriah got close enough, he pulled her in for a long kiss, Devin patting both their faces. "Wish we could just stay in bed all day," he told her, murmuring against her lips.

"Me, too, "she whispered back. "Maybe we'll be home soon, and we can do that one day." They smiled at each other, knowing that would never happen with the interruptions they constantly had on the ranch. "Maybe, soon, when we feel comfortable leaving Dev for a few days, we'll take a little second honeymoon somewhere." She giggled as Devin hugged her tight.

"Hungry," he told her, kissing her cheek.

"Okay, little man, let's find you some breakfast. I think I hear Colin up as well." She stood with the little boy on her slender hip, gave her husband a wicked smile, and turned to tend to the children. He watched her go, already longing for her again. His contented mood lasted until he showered and reached the work space, seeing that his decryption was still running, and that no new search hits had popped up. He was still there when Mags and Aric joined him, Mags relating the recent "reboot" of Jurin's brain and Aric wondering if Elara could shed some light into the situation. He'd sent her a message on her data pad, hoping he wouldn't wake her, but hadn't heard anything from her yet.

Maura and Miriah had the children at the table, where they were all happily eating breakfast. "I swear Michi is growing every day. We should keep Mags from picking her up, at least from the floor," Maura said, seeing Miriah nod.

"Devin is hard for me to do that with now," she confessed, smiling when Devin grinned at the mention of his name. "I can't imagine lifting him if I were pregnant." She turned at Maura's gasp.

"You're.."

"No, silly, I said 'if'," Miriah laughed. "But soon, I think. We're not trying to not be, so I figure that since we're getting to spend more time together, it'll be sooner than later." She smiled shyly, thinking of their morning. Maura hugged her then, grinning broadly.

"If that smile is any indication, you already are," she laughed, and dodged Miriah's swat. They cleaned up the kids and let them go play, the toys they'd been given still fascinating them. Sarai joined them, looking a little tired but hopeful.

"I see everyone's in fine spirits this morning," she said, grabbing another of the rolls that Miriah had made in the middle of the night. "This is sure strange business, though. And I want Mags getting more rest than she's been getting."

"I'm fine, Mom, really," Mags told her, entering the dining room, Aric and Felix behind her. Corso had remained with his terminal, tweaking and searching. "Miriah, sit. I've got breakfast for us," Mags said, to the astonished looks of the others. "Relax, even I can rewarm these excellent cinnamon rolls." They laughed in relief, Miriah shaking her head.

"We don't have a function tonight, and I'm wondering if we need to continue the ruse," Maura said, looking around at the others.

"Well we know that Jurin didn't dose himself, so yes, we need to continue to see if we can figure out the link," Aric said, taking her hand. "I think you're doing a great job so far, hon. Let's keep it up a bit longer, see what we can learn." She nodded at him, squeezing his fingers in her own. "And I meant to ask last night, but it escaped me. Does anyone know how Diedre and Paolo are doing?"

"Helena said they're well, in the diplomat's quarters. Paolo asks about going back to the ranch, so you might have a small visitor if he can arrange it," Sarai told them with a smile. "You should see her at tomorrow night's dinner."

Miriah left the group, taking a plate and a mug of caffa to the work area, where she saw Corso staring at his terminal. "Here, sugar. Take a few minutes to eat," she told him, sitting in the chair beside him, seeing his gratitude for the food on his face.

"Thanks, kitten. I was about to come in there, but thought of another search to try, " he told her, taking a sip of the caffa and sighing, a smile stretching across his face. "Have I told you today how much I love you?" She smiled, kissed his nose, and turned to leave. "Where you going, beautiful? Stay here, with me," he said, grabbing her arm.

"I need to check on the kiddos and Mags. Mom thinks she's doing too much," she told him, giving him a kiss. He reluctantly let her go, but watched as she walked away. Soon, he thought, she'll be needing the extra attention, he thought. Or at least he hoped so. He sat back in his chair, sipping the caffa and thinking about Miriah and possibly another child. He was still musing when Aric and Felix returned, and seeing the look on his friend's face, Aric had to tease.

"I'm sure you're not thinking about this search anymore, " he said, grinning at Corso and the blush he knew would follow. "I saw her leave here a minute ago, you're still distracted." Felix laughed, and took the chair Miriah had been sitting in.

"I don't blame you, Cor, our women all have us beguiled. You'd tease me all the time if you knew how distracted I've been on guard duty when we were still in the diplomatic corps. Now I worry more than daydream, but when the little guy is here, I'll be in the same place you are. And Aric, I've seen you get googly eyed on a daily basis, too." They all laughed, knowing Felix's words were true.

"And I'm still no closer to getting more info on the Castellan restraints. This decryption keeps crashing, and I'm beginning to suspect we're being thwarted on the other end. " Corso tapped the keys, trying to work his magic, with no luck. He sighed, leaning back against the chair. "It's no good. I'm going to have to figure out another way. Did Elara get back in touch yet?"

"Yes, she said she'll be here soon, and has someone she wants us to meet. She doesn't know anything yet other than we're working on the Balmorran puzzle." He was interrupted by the chime of his data pad. "And here's the report from the transponder station. They removed all the extraneous hardware there, and it's officially bug free now." He sighed, thinking of the soldiers and the lost shuttle, and shook his head.

The door chime sounded, and Sarai let Elara and, to their surprise, Major Blessing in. "Hi, guys, " Elara trilled, the excitement in her voice spilling over the group. "I know you know Jay, but you don't know that we got engaged last night!" The women squealed and hugged, exclaimed over her ring and the men slapped Blessing on the back in congratulations. Once they all had caffa and had gathered around the dining table, Elara looked at Aric expectantly. "Okay, Major. What's going on?" she asked.

Aric briefed the young couple on the recent events, and saw the horror pass over Elara's face at the mention of the Castellan restraints. "We were briefed on that at the Academy, but that's the last I've heard of them. You know I don't have any contacts there, but I'm wondering if the holocron library on Tython might have some data stored."

"Good idea, " Sarai replied, "I'll get in touch with the librarian, tell her I'm working on some research." She left the table to retrieve her data pad. The others continued to discuss the current situation, and Miriah wandered over to where the children were playing, catching Devin as he ran to her.

"Hey sweetie, having fun?" she asked him, grinning at his smiling face.

"Cookie?" he asked her, hope in his voice. She laughed and nodded, calling for them all to gather for a snack. She sat them down out on the balcony, and when they all had two cookies, she looked up to see a drone fly overhead. That's odd, she thought, and made a mental note to mention it to the rest of the group. She herded the kids inside, uneasy at the thought of being monitored, and told the others.

"I'm not surprised, if whoever is controlling Jurin realizes he's off the grid," Aric commented, scratching his chin. "Maybe Garza needs to put a detail up here, just in case his handler is closer than we think." Blessing nodded, and got up to make a call. "Wait, Blessing, " Aric said. "Let's not use official channels, just in case." The chagrinned young man nodded, finally speaking.

"Sorry, I'm so used to following set chains of command…" He was interrupted by Aric.

"No worries, man, before I got out I would have done the exact same thing. We're on the same floor as the general, though, so we'll just walk over." Aric grinned and started across the hall, just as Garza stepped out of the door.

"General, we might need to have.."

"More security up here? I agree, and I'd like Dorne to examine him while she's here, maybe stay and monitor him. I have to put in an appearance at the office, but I won't be gone long," she said. "I'll have Kilo posted here, Blessing is that squad's leader, and he has a fine group. " Aric saw the worry in her face, and almost put his hand on her arm. Old habits, he thought, and stopped himself. "He'll do whatever you tell him to do, he's moving slowly, but moving. He's resting now, it seems the more he sleeps, the more he recovers mentally, so I've just let him." She turned to the elevator. "Thank you, Aric, for all of you being here. I'm not sure I'd have managed this on my own." She gave her former major a small smile, and departed.

Aric caught Sarai as she was playing with the children, sitting in the floor with Calleigh and her kath hound. "Mom, I'm worried about the general. She's not herself, and I know it's worry and no sleep, and all the other stuff. Is there anything else we can do for her?"

"I was planning to suggest that we provide as much support as we can, as she'll allow us to. Miriah is making dinner plans to include her and Jurin, as well as Kilo squad and Elara." She shrugged. "Not much else we can do, son." She patted his arm, using it to rise from the floor, and joined her daughters in the kitchen.

Mags was lying on the couch resting, when Elara came back across the hall. "I've left him resting, he's not alone," she told the Jedi. "Did you see the neural reprogramming taking place with the force?"

Magdalane nodded, "Yes, you could see the associations being reformed, maybe not in the exact manner they'd been disrupted, but in some matrix of connection. He's still much the same?"

"Yes, nonverbal but gross motor skills improving, no issues with nutrition or elimination, he seems to know where he is and how to find things there," she said, looking quickly at Magdalane and then back at her data pad. "I'm more concerned now with why his ability to speak hasn't returned, since I can see the pathways have reformed there."

"It might have been a part of the set of orders he'd been given rather than a physical issue," Mags said, again wondering at the chemical structure of such a compound. She shook her head and rose, hearing Miriah call them for lunch.

Corso waited until Miriah came looking for him, hoping for a few minutes with her held against him. He got his wish, and when her fingertips ran under his shirt, he hoped for more than a few minutes, those he knew he wouldn't get until later. He was so engrossed in her touch that he missed hearing the chime on his computer that told him he'd found another document.