Cara's Apartment

Cara arched again pushing herself off the bed, as the endorphins from her release coursed through her; she dropped back down onto the bed. Plug held her gently, as she worked through it.

Sucking at the soft skin on the slight mound of her stomach, he was amazed at the feeling of her skin and its salty taste. Sex was nothing like he imagined, lying alone in his bunk, thinking about her.

He had thought about her for months but never plucked up the courage to say anything.

Then she had spoken to him.

He worked his way slowly up her body, noting every tiny perfect part.

He understood Commander Mayday better now, as he leaned over her, bracing himself, her hair spread out across the pillow like a red sunburst, her skin flushed. Her hand reached up to him and touched his cheek, his dark skin glistened with sweat, as he bent over and nuzzled between her breasts.

She arched up towards him again, as another flare of arousal hit her. His mouth wrapped around a nipple and teased her.

It was almost too much.

Once he knew where their relationship was going, he had asked what she wanted and liked. What he needed to do for her.

Very few men had ever asked her that and once he knew, he was relentless.

She reached out and touched his face again "Plug?"

He looked up at her, his eyes holding a question. Now she knew him better, she realised his eyes showed her his every emotion and there were lots.

"Enough! Rest."

He closed his eyes as his head dropped down before he moved to her side, his skin still glistening from his exertions.

"Are you sure this was your first time?" she teased and pushed her fingers through his hair that had reverted to tiny curls from the sweat.

"I have a good teacher." He replied, kissing her jaw, she smiled at his compliment.

"You're an exceptional pupil." She murmured letting him kiss her further.

He had never thought, or even considered that something like this, someone like her could ever happen to him. But….

She opened her eyes to look at him again, a five o'clock shadow just appearing on his chin, "Are you okay?" She asked, concerned at the new expression on his face.

"Yes. But I need to tell you something."

Cara braced herself; she had got this far before with many men but had thought Plug was different. She hoped he was different; she had been so wrong before.

"I'm being deployed to the front lines."

She pushed herself up on her elbow.

"Front lines, as in battles?" Her stomach lurched in fear.

"It's what I was made for." Plug replied matter of factly.

Cara hated it when he spoke like that even though at one point, she would have said the same, much to her everlasting shame.

"When?"

"Two days from now."

"So soon. When did you find out?"

"Yesterday." He watched her face, seeing the sadness there, "I should have told you sooner, as soon as I got here. I'm sorry. I don't want you to think I've used you."

"Plug, you didn't push me into this. So no you didn't use me. I would have still wanted you, even if you had told me you were leaving, as soon as you reached the door."

She leaned back down and moved closer to him, "Can you stay the night?"

Plug's eyes went wide, then he recovered himself and leaned over and kissed her in response.

She was relieved Lilli was staying overnight with Hela but she still had to tell Plug about her daughter. She had wanted to check how he felt about that, not everyone liked having someone else's child around.

.

Hela's

"Mum's got her new boyfriend there tonight." Lilli announced, as she drew yet another Tooka, a kit this time.

"Has she?" Hela feigned ignorance but watched her carefully.

"Yeah." Lilli's tongue circled her lips in concentration, as she finished drawing the Tooka on the paper. She was getting quite good at those.

"Do you mind that she has boyfriends?" asked Hela, she had no experience of that as a child. Her parents were together until they died together; she tried not to think of that too often, although sometimes the grief still crept up on her. She concentrated on colouring in one of the Tookas that Lilli drew, while she waited for an answer.

"Do that part blue." Lilli instructed her, pointing to the ears, "Not if I can come and stay with you and have those fried Nuna strips and red sauce."

Hela smiled, she hadn't been looking forward to this visit but she had made the offer and she stuck to the agreement. Now she found this colouring was relaxing and looking after Lilli took her mind away from worrying about Mayday. Where he was, what he was doing. She turned back to Lilli.

"Who used to look after you….when your Mother went out?"

"The old lady next door. She was nice. I called her Nanna. She gave me cookies but Mum had to pay her."

"Oh."

"Here's another one." Lilli pushed another Tooka picture in front of her, "Purple please."

"Okay." Hela pulled a purple pen from the packet and started to colour in.

"But then that monster killed her."

"What monster?" From Hela's point of view there were a large number of monsters of all shapes and sizes in the galaxy. She stopped colouring to look at Lilly.

"That Zilli beast."

"You mean Zillo beast."

"Yeah that one."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. She was nice."

"Is it gone?" Asked Lilli, looking out of the large windows, suddenly concerned.

"The Zillo beast?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. It's gone and it won't be coming back."

"Good." She pushed another picture to Hela. "Done. Can I have that bath with bubbles now? You said I could have lots of bubbles that smell nice. We don't have a bath tub."

"Of course."

.

Hela heated up some blue milk adding some sweet spices ready for Lilli to finish her bath; Cara had said she was old enough to take one alone, although Hela kept checking on her. She stopped whisking and listened carefully, it had gone quiet.

Panicking, she ran through to the fresher throwing open the door; the bathtub was full of bubbles almost overflowing. She knew she hadn't put that much water in. Lilli was nowhere to be seen.

"Lilli!" She shouted.

"Lilli!" She rushed to the edge of the bathtub.

A foam covered head rose from the bubbles.

"Gotcha!" Lilli shrieked.

Hela had never seen so many bubbles.

"Yes you did." She said relieved, "How much bubble bath did you use?"

"All of it." Lilli proudly held up the empty bottle, which would normally have lasted Hela a month if she bathed everyday, instead of showering. It probably cost as much as Cara earned in a month.

"Is that okay?"

Hela took a breath, "Yes, fine. Just be careful when you get out." Hela held the towel out for her, "Can you dry yourself and get dressed?"

"Of course, I'm not a baby."

Hela sat waiting and Lilli trotted in dressed in her Tooka covered pyjamas.

"Ooh. Warm blue milk. Are there any cookies?"

"You know there are." Hela smiled, as she reached for the tin. Despite her recent sadness she did enjoy being with Lilli.

"Then it's bedtime."

"Aww!"

"Your mother says you need to be in bed by nine, at the latest. She's picking you up in the morning."

"Just ten minutes more. One more cookie. Pleeeeese!"

"One more cookie." Hela agreed and shook her head, as she watched the cookie being eaten crumb by crumb.

.

Cara's

Plug lay on his side, amazed at how soft the mattress was and how it moulded itself to his body whilst he slept. He watched the beautiful woman lying next to him asleep; he carefully moved a strand of red hair from her pale face, sprinkled with freckles. She twitched her nose. He smiled, thinking even that action was beautiful and now he was torn. He was due to go back on the frontlines, courtesy of the Commander, and with his squad, part of the 212th; something he had been pushing for since a few months after coming to ArmyMed but now he was conflicted by his need to serve and his need to be with Cara.

She stretched out, in her sleep, cat like and turned to face him, eyes still closed. He adjusted himself, so as not to disturb her. It wasn't yet light so he had time to just lie here and watch her. To memorise every part of her face before he left.

He wondered if Commander Mayday did that; he had seen how he and the woman Hela looked at each other.

.

Hela's

Hela turned off HNN, no longer able to look at the images of the battles raging across the galaxy, at the men, just like Mayday, Tank, Veetch and now Plug, who were fighting for us.

Zur had been watching her, he knew this was a difficult time for her; Mayday had been away for a couple of months now with little contact. A few garbled messages, which she played over and over. He wasn't sure about leaving her alone at this time but he had promised to meet Anoon.

"Will you be alright on your own?"

"Yeah. You go. Enjoy yourself." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

He pulled his jacket off, "That's it I'm not going. You're ill."

"Very funny. When am I going to meet him—Anoon?"

"Stop changing the subject."

"I'm not."

"You should do something to take your mind off Mayday then."

"That didn't go well the last time." She adjusted the cushions.

"The Jedi is not here, is he?"

"No."

Her com blinked with an incoming call; she ignored it.

"You've missed a call."

She looked at the number, "Yeah."

"Aren't you going to call them back?"

"Thinking about it."

"Editta?"

"The one and only."

"Holonet Tonight Show?" Zur guessed.

"Yeah. I really don't want to do it."

"Then say no."

"I've already promised Frey and Aleena."

"Then go and do it. It'll take your mind off soldier boy."

She glared at him, the word boy was truer than he imagined. Ben had explained the cloning to her the first time she had met Cody. He had looked so young and yet acted so old and serious.

She picked up the com and pressed the code, watching Zur as he finally walked out of the Apartment. She didn't begrudge him his time with Anoon, although she would actually like to meet him. She would have to remind him about that, again. She pressed the numbers, it took a little while but he answered and sounded out of breath.

"Hi Frey! When do you want to do this Holonet Tonight interview and how do you want to play it?"

"Good to hear from you. I thought you'd backed out. It'll have to be good. Aleena and I have been seen together, with the children. We're having to move."

"Oh! You never said it had become an immediate problem."

Frey was quiet.

"Let me get Aleena. She'll come up with something. She used to be my manager back in the day."

The com went silent.

"Hela! I'm so glad you agreed to do this. Frey's career is based on him being free and available and we need to keep the children out of the limelight. They need to have a normal upbringing as much as possible."

"I can't disagree with that." Hela said, thinking of her own childhood and the measures she had to take to secure her own privacy."

"But surely just keeping a low profile will be good enough?"

"Not really. Its his Contract. No spouse. No family. He needs to look as if he plays the field."

"Contract?" Hela had never heard of anything like that inna Contract before.

"We tried fighting it, before we married, in the Courts but it nearly broke us."

"Oh." Hela didn't know what to say.

"We can choreograph it so that it looks real."

"Okay. I'm listening."

.

Hela put the com down; this was more than she expected, it was not just an interview. She went to bed knowing Zur wouldn't be back yet and she wasn't going to push him to move out yet. This arrangement suited both of them.

Hela turned to look at the chrono; two hours and she still hadn't managed to sleep. She picked up her com and pressed Mayday's number hoping she would be able to get through to him but yet again there was no answer.

"Mayday. I need to tell you something. No it's not bad but it's something you need to know."

She recorded her rehearsed a message, it still sounded garbled. The explanation. But it was the best she could do. She pressed send— it took a couple of goes some problem sending it but finally it showed as sent.

Now she listened to his recorded messages; Plug had reached them and was fitting in well, already proving his worth as their medic. Then he spoke about some rookies who joined them and a Commander Ponds who had been killed. She finished with the one he sent before he was injured by the Zillo beast.

He was unlikely to see the Holonet Tonight Show, being somewhere in the outer rim. She had agreed what they were going to do and she wanted to help Aleena and Frey. Zur had pointed out that it also took the spotlight off her and Mayday if anyone did see them.

She hadn't thought of it that way.

.

Holonet Tonight Studios.

"So Editta, how the fucking hell did you get this to happen? How many palms did you grease?" The host, a Zeltron, Jymii Crayne, technically past her prime but she had had some work done by a gifted surgeon, checked her datapad looking at the list of questions she had ready for the two people who were coming in for her major interview tonight, amending them.

She had finally, after years of trying, managed to get these two on her show and together on the same night. It had been aggressively advertised. Their latest show had been a sellout and both were reclusive, Hela to the point of being a hermit; never seen at any of the clubs, despite how she looked. The only person you saw her with was the Chancellor—and she was fairly certain there was nothing going on there— and her dresser, a Falleen.

The Zeltron knew who he liked to be with and it wasn't Hela; he was just arm candy for her. He looked good in a suit.

"Just my usual efficient persistence, my dear. Is that your list of questions?"

She held out her hand, Jymii gave her the pad for inspection. Agreed questions were always part of the deal but that didn't stop Jymii asking ones that weren't on the list. She had only ever had one guest have a problem with that and it was Senator, who just got up, pulled his mic off and walked off the set muttering to himself.

Editta scrolled down the screen and stopped, looking at the Zeltron, "Really my dear?" She asked before deleting one.

"I can try." Jymii shrugged. It was always worth a try even with Editta.

"Remember the Sy Snootles debacle." Editta warned her.

"Yeah. I remember Sy. She's crazy!" Jymii subconsciously touched the side of her neck, even though the surgeons had totally removed any remaining scar tissue, sometimes she thought she could still feel it.

"You should have realised that and that she was linked to the Hutts, in more ways than one."

"And?"

"The Hutts don't play well. Nor did Sy. She was trouble from day one." Editta was glad she finally managed to get rid of Sy Snootles, she was more trouble than she was worth. Rumour was that she was now on Tatooine.

Good riddance.

The only trouble Editta had with Hela was actually getting hold of her; when she went to ground, you could never find her. Editta suspected there was someone in her life but couldn't prove it. So they must be discreet.

"Remember, Hela is closely linked to the Chancellor." Editta said.

"And?"

Editta carefully phrased what she was going to say next, she had been visited by some very scary people when she took Hela on, not at all what she expected and she didn't scare easily, "The Chancellor may look like your benevolent grandfather but he's held on to the most powerful office in the galaxy for the last ten years and managed to increase his power at the same time."

The Security Cams were the bane of Editta's life, one of her clients was always doing something, except Hela; sometimes she thought she was too good to be true. Squeaky clean.

"You don't manage that if you're a pushover. That man is not a man to be trifled with. Be careful."

The Zeltron looked at her, still not convinced and added another question to her list for Hela Nim.

This could be the scoop of her lifetime— the Chancellor, Senators, Jedi and clones. She was involved with them all in some way. Jymiii had been trying to get her on the program for years, ever since the incident, with the obsessed fan and now she had finally agreed to come on.

With Frey, another enigma if there ever was one. The only person he was seen with regularly was a female twi'lek but she was fairly confident there was nothing going on there.

Jymii checked her chrono and earbuds. The Security Team was on alert to let her know as soon as the guests arrived. She had heard nothing yet; it was getting close to recording time and it was going out live.

"She's late! Are you sure she's actually coming? It wouldn't be the first time someone's had second thoughts about coming on the show."

"She'll be here." Editta smiled, "Trust me."

She better be, she promised.

.

Hela and Frey sat side by side in the Skycar while Aleena and Zur sat opposite.

Hela felt self conscious dressed as she was, sitting in front of Aleena.

"You look amazing! The dress is just right." The Twi'lek said.

Hela gave a small smile as Zur glared at her; the dress was skin tight and he had sewn her into it at the last minute. She now couldn't drink or eat, or anything else for that matter, without it showing or she wouldn't be able to breathe.

"Hela? Are you still okay with what you have to do?" Aleena asked.

"Yes. Are you?"

"Yes. Its for my children."

Frey reached over and held his wife's hand.

Hela pulled the matching faux fur coat tighter around her, it was only acting, she told herself, she did this all the time.

They pulled up outside the studios, there was already a crowd. Hela put on her best smile and climbed out of the skycar.

The makeup and introductions flew by and soon they were waiting ready to walk on; the audience was already there.

Editta was hovering, "If this goes well. You could be invited to lots of shows - Celebrity Galactic Bake Off. Celebrity Galactic Masterchef."

Hela rolled her eyes at Frey. He winked at her. They walked out onto the stage to thunderous applause. They bowed to the audience, it was full to capacity.

Jymii sat there grinning.

Hela turned her back to Frey and dropped her fur coat from her shoulders. He caught it and flung it away to one side, as she turned to the audience smiling, he clapped and whipped up the audience to more cheers before he pulled her into a kiss, whispered in her ear and with one hand behind her back, she dipped. It was theatrical.

Just how they had rehearsed. Just like the show they were in.

Jymii clapped enthusiastically, this was much better than she had ever imagined. She was now sure there was something happening between the two. Now she could pursue this.

.