Chapter Eleven

It had been one, full day since Ayani’s offer to Seven, and he’d done nothing but attempt to make up his mind as she had instructed. He was no closer than he’d been before. On one hand, he could not face the Empire having run from them. On the other, he could not allow her to face the Emperor alone. Any number of things could go wrong. He’d learned that from experience. Not to mention the fact that he could never condone sending Obi-Wan Kenobi, the same man who had supported him when he’d fled the Empire, to his death. And who knew? Palpatine probably had a fate worse than death ready for General Kenobi.

Every time his thoughts circled in this pattern, he came back to one, simple truth: Obi-Wan deserved to be with his family, who needed him as a father and husband much more than Ayani needed him as a bounty. There was no denying it. The man had served the Jedi his entire life, sacrificing life and limb and love for them. Then, when things had turned sour he’d found refuge in Jade. All they had was each other. This senseless violence Ayani perversely called justice was not right.

That evening, he found Ayani sleeping out of pure exhaustion in her quarters. Her mouth moved, but any words that came from her were mumbled and nonsensical. The nightmares again… Long-dead spirits communicating with her poor, deranged mind. And how he loved her. With a sad shake of his head, he moved out of the room and down the corridor.

Soon, Seven found himself in the one part of the ship he’d been forbidden to enter since his first visit there. The brig. With a cautious and somewhat paranoid glance behind him, he approached Obi-Wan’s cell. Through the window, he could see the mostly naked silhouette of the battered, tortured, and malnourished General as he lay curled up in the floor. And there was no lack of a smell.

“Damn, the one guy you think would never smell like that,” he protested, waving a hand in front of his nose.

At the sound of a voice other than Ayani’s, Obi-Wan stirred. He probably would have shot straight up if he’d had more energy. Instead, he groaned tiredly, rubbing at his eyes.

“Obi-Wan?” Seven questioned. “Can you hear me?”

“Seven?” Obi-Wan returned, pushing himself up slowly. “That you?”

“The one and only,” Seven said, grinning happily. “How’re you feeling?”

Obi-Wan sighed, then turned his head toward the small window where Seven peeked in. “I feel how I look.”

“Whoa, that is bad,” Seven said. “Listen, hold tight for a moment.”

“No, where are you going?” Obi-Wan asked quickly.

“Nowhere,” he said. “This might just take me a minute, okay?”

Obi-Wan nodded warily, remembering how badly their last conversation had ended. Seven nodded back, then stepped away from the door and eyed the keypad. Huffing a sigh, he tried a few random passwords. It was five characters, that much was apparent. But it could be anything.

Just as a test, he typed in “ayani”. Nothing. Then the same name backwards. Still nothing. He tried “dooku”, “force”, “saber”… any stupid thing he could think of. Then, something clicked in his mind that hadn’t before, and he keyed in “seven”. Nothing.

“Damn this piece of—” He was about to bash his fist against the keypad when he extended a finger and typed “feroz”. With a series of soft beeps and a click, the door swung open. He stopped himself just short of whooping with joy and ran in to help Obi-Wan to his feet.

“Can you walk?” Seven asked, hauling him out of the cell.

“I can run if it means getting out of here,” Obi-Wan said, grunting as he got his feet beneath him.

“Hopefully, you won’t have to,” Seven said. “I think I’ve got a ride for you if you can pilot it.” Seven led Obi-Wan to a supply closet and draped a blanket over his shoulders. “Not much, man, I’m sorry. But it will keep you covered until you get home.”

“And Nova?” Obi-Wan asked him, his eyes filled with a father’s desperation. “Where’s my little star?”

“With your woman,” Seven said. “They’re both safe and sound at the hut. All they lack is you.”

“Then, let’s not make them wait,” Obi-Wan said, strength returning to him along with his resolve. “But first…” He moved as though to stride purposefully down the corridor, but Seven stopped him with a hand to his chest.

“Sorry,” Seven said. “But I can’t let you do that.”

“Even now you protect her?” Obi-Wan asked, astonished.

“You’re not a stupid man, Obi-Wan,” Seven said. “So you know better than to get your fool-self shoved back in that cell, right?”

Obi-Wan bristled, standing still and not answering.

“And you know from your own experience not to get between a man and his woman, right?” Seven asked, his voice very low.

Obi-Wan softened a bit. “I do. I only hope you know what you’re doing.”

“No,” Seven laughed. “Do I ever?”

Hurrying toward the ramp, Seven helped Obi-Wan into Ayani’s speeder. His last words before the other man blasted off were, “now get your scrawny ass home.”

Ayani awoke with a start at the sound of her ship’s ramp hissing shut. She bolted out of bed and moved quickly down the hall towards the cabin of her ship. Seven was standing there, trying to look as innocent as possible. Ayani narrowed her eyes at him, feeling immediately on guard.

"What did you do, Feroz?"

Seven shrugged. “I was just getting some fresh air. Went for a walk.”

"You're lying." Ayani said, her head shifting to the side. Seven shifted, and his eyes glanced towards the brig. Ayani stiffened.

"You didn't...." she hissed and raced down into the brig.

“Ayani, wait!” he called, chasing after her.

He skidded to a stop behind her as she stood agape in front of Obi-Wan’s empty cell. Ayani turned towards Seven, her shocked look turning to pure rage. Feelings of hate and betrayal filled every inch of her very being as she stared at him.

"I can't believe you let him go," she spoke, her voice a deadly whisper as she advanced on him, forcing him back towards the cabin.

“You gave me no choice,” Seven snarled back, moving away from her like an animal on the defensive. “What you were going to allow the Emperor to do was something I couldn’t justify.”

"Damn you... You should have stayed out of it," she growled, forcing him into the cabin. "Do you realize that you've just condemned his entire family? I'll kill Jade, Nova, and Obi-Wan now."

“No, you won’t,” Seven said, his body tensing. “You’d have to kill me first.”

Ayani's saber was in her hand in a second. "What makes you think I won’t?" She brought herself to her full height and ignited her saber.

Seven closed his eyes. “Because you love me.” And waited.

Ayani gritted her teeth and brought her saber to Seven's neck.

"Never assume what I think," she brought the saber back and threw her hand forward, sending Seven flying across the room and slamming into the wall. She closed down her saber, darted out of her ship, and jumped in a speeder that someone had left sitting by another ship, speeding off towards the Kenobis.

“Gyah, every time!” he shouted, pushing himself up. “Ayani!”

He ran after her, down the ramp, but there was nothing but a dust trail marking her path away from him.

* * * * *

Jade sat in the floor with Nova, playing a clapping game with her and smiling when the child cackled. With time, her Force senses had returned, and Jade was once again able to feel the girl’s spirit. Jade was not so naïve that she couldn’t put Nova’s puncture wounds together with her regained Force sensitivity, but still she’d never heard of a drug that could cut off the Force and couldn’t fathom where Ayani might have gotten it. It troubled her, but she thanked the stars that Nova was at least back with her.

The rumble of a speeder broke their reverie, and Jade’s head snapped up. With a ready hand, she grasped Obi-Wan’s saber, then shooed Nova away with the other.

“Go in the other room,” she ordered.

Nova’s big blue eyes engulfed her mother, but Jade stayed admirably firm. The youngling took her order, wandering off into the other room with her teething ring in her tiny grip.

“I’m ready this time,” Jade growled. “Not again. Not ever.”

Jade waited patiently, half crouching with the unlit saber in hand. The speeder powered down, but there was no immediate sounds of someone’s approach. With a curious squint, she waited.

She’s trying to lure me out… Won’t work. She can just come in and get her ambush this time.

There was a curious grunt, one which sounded nothing like Ayani’s voice. Then footsteps in the sand, but not the crunching sound accompanied by someone wearing boots. Just the grains shifting as though the walker were barefoot.

I’m just being paranoid. It’s her. It has to be…

She waited for what seemed like an eternity for the slowly shifting steps to make something akin to progress. Then a light thud made her body jerk with dismay. Even more disturbing was the quiet that followed.

“It’s a trick, it’s a trap, it’s a trick…” She chanted this with her eyes closed. “Don’t go, don’t do it, it’s a trap…”

“Mama?”

“You stay in there, Nova,” Jade said softly, opening her eyes. “Now, what do I do? How long can I wait, hmm? I can wait a real long time, Ayani.” She crouched, bringing her weapon to life and grasping it with both hands. “Ready for you. Come on…”

The response she received to this was hardly what she’d expected, just like everything that had happened thus far.

“J… Jade…” It sounded forced and coughed into the sand. Weak and half-dead. Thick and barely audible. And yet she knew the voice at once.

Jade propelled herself at the door, throwing it aside and nearly knocking it off completely. At her feet, face down in the sand, was a crumpled form covered partially in a blanket that had loosed itself with the force of the wind. She threw Obi-Wan’s weapon aside and dropped to her knees next to him, touching him with trembling fingers.

The speed with which every curse word and blessing she’d ever heard left her mouth was astonishing, and Obi-Wan would have laughed were he conscious enough. Jade lovingly pulled him into her lap, rolling him onto his back. He felt so much lighter than he should have, and her stomach rolled with both fear and relief.

“Obi,” she called, her voice cracking and squeaking as she wept. “Oh, my love…” She kissed his sand- and dirt-caked skin, stroking his filthy hair and beard. “Obi, love, damn…”

“Mama?” Nova asked, standing in the doorway. She spied her father. “Daddy-poodoo?”

Jade laughed and cried hysterically. “Nova, baby, come’ere!”

Nova toddled over, falling into her mother’s arms and crying gently along with her. She was small, but she was already wise enough to know that being separated from her parents was not something that had been meant to happen. It had been a terrible mistake. And now, they were all here. Daddy looked really bad, but he was home. She was home, too. Everything would be all right.

Ayani pulled her speeder up behind a dune just in time to watch Obi-Wan fall into the sand. She had started to move forward, to attack, but had stopped when Jade burst out the door. The emotion that filled the air struck Ayani like a ton of bricks, and she sunk to her knees in the sand, watching the scene unfold.

Why do you hesitate? The voice teased, drifting sharply across her mind. Why not attack when they are at their weakest...?

Ayani didn't blink, didn't move, as she stared at the scene.

It's because they have something you can never have, isn't it? Something you've always wanted, always dreamed of having. Love, a family, someone to be there for you no matter what. Someone to come home to, someone to worry about you, to cry over you. Someone for you to go to when you're hurt and tired.

Ayani clenched her jaw, twitching slightly.

You also can't bring yourself to destroy another innocent child’s life. Because you know that’s what will happen, even if you spare her life. She will grow up with no parents, alone in a harsh world, like you.

Ayani crawled backwards, away from the hut and towards her speeder. She climbed into her speeder, and with one last look back towards the loving family she sped off back towards her ship, her mind reeling.

“Okay, Nova…” Jade sighed, sniffling gently. “Go back in the house, and… daddy and I will be there in a minute.”

Nova obliged, watching as Jade carried Obi-Wan over the threshold like a husband with a new bride. Though he was lighter than normal, Jade still found him heavy and used her Force powers partially. She was relieved to reach their bed so she could lay him across it.

“Daddy baf,” Nova said, pinching her nose.

“Does daddy need a bath?” Jade asked, then grinned when the child nodded. “All right then, I’ll give him one.”

Jade bent down and picked up her daughter, placing her in her crib.

“Now, first things first,” Jade said, leaning over the girl. “If anyone comes in the house, this room, or to that window, you shriek your lungs out. Loud enough to bust my eardrums. Okay?”

Nova let out a practice screech in Jade’s face, and she winced fitfully.

“Yeah, like that, baby.” She glanced over at Obi-Wan. “That didn’t wake him…”

She was worried about the state he was in and the fact that she couldn’t feel the Force within him, just as it had been with Nova. Curiously, she moved over to him and tilted his head back. She could barely see for the hair and dirt, but there appeared to be puncture wounds and matching bruises on his neck. She had to have faith that her assumptions about the injections were true and that Obi-Wan’s Force sensitivity would be restored.

Jade moved away again and into the fresher, running the water for his bath. She moved to the doorway and lifted her hand at his unconscious form on the bed, floating him toward her.

“If you won’t wake up, we’ll have to do it this way,” she whispered to him.

She slid the blanket from him, then gingerly peeled his underwear away. She shuddered as she held it pinched between her index finger and thumb.

“I love you,” she said, “and I know this wasn’t your fault… But this is just nasty, Obi-love.”

She tossed the briefs in a corner, shuddering again when they smacked into the floor. Relaxing her concentration, Jade lowered Obi-Wan into the bath water and shut off the faucet. She immediately filled her palm with hair cleanser and attacked his hair and beard, scrubbing both vigorously. His slack face and closed eyes throughout this were almost comical, and she grinned foolishly with affection at him. She added soap into the mix, rubbing his face with it and giggling at his lack of reaction. Then, she rinsed his face with a splash of water.

Obi-Wan sputtered and shot up unexpectedly, sending sprays of water in all directions. Jade put her hands on his shoulders and nearly fell in the tub with him.

“Obi!” she yelled as he gripped her arms. “It’s me! Sorry for the rude awakening, love, but I can’t just leave the soap in your hair.”

Obi-Wan stared at her as though looking straight through her, then nodded as though agreeing that this made sense.

“May I go on?” she asked, touching his cheek tenderly where soap still lingered.

“As long as you answer me something,” he croaked.

“Anything.” She ran her thumb across his lips and watched the bliss that moved across his face.

“Is this real?” he asked, quaking at her touch.

Jade’s eyes filled, and she dipped her head forward, putting her mouth to his. When they parted, she asked, “did that feel real?”

Obi-Wan nodded weakly, and Jade got to her feet. “Can you stand up?”

“I can try,” he grunted, pushing himself up.

Once he was standing, Jade went on washing him, applying soap to every part of him, then ordering him to lay back in the water again. He did so, and the water turned a murky, milky brown from the grit and filth that she scrubbed from his skin. Obi-Wan tried to speak and explain himself, embarrassed by how disgusting this all was, but Jade shushed him.

Jade waved for him to stand again and grabbed a nearby towel. She dried his hair, shoulders, and chest, then wrapped the towel around his waist.

“You get in bed,” she told him. “I’m gonna start on supper.”

“Jade,” Obi-Wan said softly before she turned to leave. “I love you.”

As though this had broken what little control she had, Jade kissed him hungrily. Obi-Wan responded, his lips moving in strokes that were slow and tired but lacked no passion. Rubbing her face against his beard, feeling the moisture that clung there, Jade sobbed.

“I love you, too.” Her voice was thick and miserable.

“Now I can go to bed,” he told her, grinning as he lifted her chin.

Jade’s chin trembled, and she let out a helpless laugh. His smile seemed to break through her like a single sunbeam through a curtain of night. Somehow, there was nothing to fear. Nothing to hate. Just love. A universe full of it. His face and that hopeful grin was all the reassurance she’d needed all along.

“So what’s for supper?” he asked, chuckling.

“Soup,” she said. “Lots of soup. In bed. With hugs and kisses and licks, if you want those, too.”

“I’ll have as many helpings as you can stand to give,” he said, kissing her softly.

“That’s a lot,” she said. “I hope you can stand to take what I have to give. But enough innuendo. Get in that bed.”

Obi-Wan shuffled out of the fresher and into the bedroom but stopped before reaching the bed to scoop Nova up. The child squealed gleefully as her father covered her in kisses.

“Daddy, beard-scratch!” she shouted, cackling as he blew raspberries on her tummy.

Jade bit her lip, forcing her whimsical grin away, and moved on to the kitchen. Force, how he lit up a room… How he completed her life. Her eyes caught a glint out the window. It could have been nothing, it could have been Ayani. Even now, with her life in some semblance of order again she would not rest. Therefore, it wasn’t over.

Chapter Twelve

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