Star Wars: Starunner Saga 32

Reb was dumbfounded. So Pek had her reasons, but they were wrong. Reb shook his head, then took the Jedi's drink and downed it himself. "Between you and me, I'd leave that as something to never tell her. You don't want that anger focused on you...not today, at least." Reb couldn't believe it, so he stopped thinking about it.

When Pekmae came too again it was back in the bunk and she hissed between her teeth. "Alright, who put me to bed again..." she cooed in a deceptively sing-song voice, still not wanting to bother her son. Again she pushed up and rolled over him, and again she stomped out into the hallway. She thought maybe, just maybe, if she were fueled by something like anger, she could make it a little further. "What's the big idea, putting me to bed like I'm a---" and that was all that came out. Just steps from the table in the lounge Pekmae fell backwards as if she'd hit an invisible wall. Reb stood up a little and looked over the edge of the table at her.

"Once more, and she's all yours," he said with a crooked grin. The little girl beside him made a noise and looking down, he found her smiling. He reached out and ran his hand over her face for a second, then looked back at the Jedi. "I'd leave her there, this time. She's slept worse places than the decking of a freighter." Tapping the litte one's head, he asked, "This one talk?"

Den nodded to Reb’s suggestion about Pekmae. “If you say so.” He looked over at Rei. “She talks.  Just not that often.  I'ts mainly single words.  Things like Mommy.  Or daddy.  Or Seven.”  He glanced at Reb, then back to Rei. “Arseven is my astro-mech.  She can’t really say Arseven, so she calls him Seven.”

Den’s eyebrows dropped and pushed together in thought.  “I’m honestly not sure what she calls Kael.  Perhaps Bubba?”  He said, still looking at the girl, as if waiting for her to answer.  She then slid out of her chair, and walked around the table to climb in Den’s lap.She pointed at Reb, and then dropped her hand, and sank into Den’s chest. He held her close with his left arm, and looked her over. “Who’s that, Girlie?” He asked her.

She pulled away from her father, and shyly looked Reb over, meanwhile pushing her middle two fingers in her mouth. “Web.”  She said quietly. Den smiled, pleased.

“See?”  he said, looking back to Reb.  “She talks sometimes.”

Reb couldn't lie to  himself...not right now. He was going to miss this family, when they were gone. He smiled when the little one said his name; she was doing better than he was. He didn't even know her name. "Yeah," he said to his glass, about nothing in particular.

Meanwhile Pek, on the floor was listening to their conversation. She'd blacked out and come to nearly in the same moment. Her head ached fiercely and her foot was sore and her whole body felt a little chilled there on the decking, but she was awake and testing her theory. Slowly, little bit by little bit, she was inching herself across the floor and closer to her husband. She decided that maybe if she didn't talk to him and didn't look at him, that maybe she'd be okay. Heck of a way to run a marriage, she knew, but it might work for now. So she wriggled her way across the floor until she opened her eyes and saw him, with Rei on his lap, both very upside down.

"Hi there, handsome," she drawled. "Come here often?" She was speaking softly and hoping to trick her body into thinking she was still out cold. Before Den could make a move she closed her eyes tight. "No, don't touch me yet. I can beat this...I can stop this one, now."

Pek didn't feel the darkness closing in on her, so she opened her eyes again. "How's mama's little precious?" she cooed at her daughter. Pek thought of reaching up to tug at Rei's pant-leg, then decided she might accidentally touch Den and that would be the end of it. So she was content to lie on the decking and watch them upside down, and she was ready to fight off the slippery black with every strength she had.

Den's smile faded into disdain when she ordered him away.  He knew her, and how stubborn she was.  He knew she would do her best to outsmart her body. This, no doubt, was a lot to take in on her part. Her husband dead one moment, alive and in front of her the next.  That didn't change the fact that he wanted to hold her.  And he wanted her to hold him back.  The Jedi was patient, though.  Despite the galaxy, he was patient.

Rei stared at the woman she recognized as her mother.  Rei giggled at her laying on the floor, and in an amused voice, she cooed, "Momma.."

"Yeah," Den said, "That's momma."

Pek smiled from her place on the floor and made silly faces at her daughter and husband. Then she noted his look of disdain and let a hint of edginess seep into her face. "You cut that out," she said mock menacingly. "You're supposed to be happy to see me, remember?"

Pek skwunched her face up then sat abruptly upright and spun around on her bottom. "Besides," she said with a lofty air, "I think I'm done. I feel fine, right now." Reb raised his eyes to the very top of her head and studied her for a moment, then he lowered his gaze again. He couldn't really feel a shift coming over her...then again, he wasn't in her body. He shrugged a little...predictions could always be wrong.

Not being the type to sit, especially after the excitement of the day and the thrill of finding her husband alive, Pekmae was soon on her feet and pacing somewhat. Her mouth formed around words and suddenly her eyes flashed and she spun to face Den.

"DenJie Starunner, if you -ever- die and come back to life again, I'll kill you!" she said, forming a brand new rant. "Yeah, I know I left and that was my fault and I'm sorry for it, but at least people knew I was alive. I mean, I was out there and folks saw me doing stuff and nearly anyone you asked on the street could tell you where I was, if you knew who to ask. But you!" She jabbed her finger at him for emphasis, "You died right there over the holovid for all of the system to see and all I could do was die with you!" Tears formed in her eyes as she continued, empassioned by her own speech. "I thought you were gone, and I thought I was even more of a terrible mother because I couldn't find our kids and they were all by themselves and I went to get them but Kael said you were okay and I was so caught up in just finding you and bringing you back safely that I didn't even stop to try to make a plan and don't you ever do it again!"

"Pek...sit down." Reb had looked up for her speech, mostly amused that he wasn't the only one that seemed to get into trouble with this woman, and he felt her shift. She was up, pacing like a caged animal and flailing her arms and alternately shouting and speaking softly..all in all a very entertaining rant, on her part.

She ignored Reb, or didn't hear him, and she continued on with her speech. "You didn't even tell those Jedi of yours at the Academy. Me, I expected not to know anything but them? They're watching our children and you can't even stop to let them know your fine? You were probably working on something for them anyway, the way Skywalker was all trying to help and apologizing and ..."

"Pek. Sit. Down." Reb said it again, his elbows on the table and his chin resting on his hands. This was getting good. A new light came into Pekmae's eyes as she remembered the Academy, and she leaned over the table with a new intensity. "-I- went and spoke to -Skywalker-! Me! I went and talked to him, right to his face, and I didn't kill him and I wasn't overly rude. Do you know how hard that was for me? I was staring face to face with the very man that started this nonsense between us, the one who kept us apart for so long in the beginning and the one, very same, very hateful man who kept me alone during my first pregnancy ---"

"Pek! Siddown!" Pek did, still focused on her husband. "Who do you think you are to..." She stopped, feeling peculiar. "Who do you think--" she started again, and stopped. She felt her eyes were crossing and her head felt heavy. She made a small noise, like a meep, then her eyes rolled back and she slumped over the table.

"All done," Reb said triumphantly, as if he'd caused the incident himself. Then he stood up and wandered down to the cargo holds to poke around and pretend he was doing stuff. He didn't want to be around when she came to again...he'd had enough displays from them.

Den's eyes grew wide when the rant began.  He watched in slight disbelief as she paced and pointed and accused.  On a couple of occasions, he thought to defend himself, but after a moment, he thought better of it, knowing she needed to get it out of her system. The Jedi's focus shifted from Reb to Pekmae when he spoke, but soon drifted
to Pekmae again.  As she became more impassioned and spoke about how he didn't even mention it to the Academy, he momentarily got a far off look in his eye, but then focused on her again.

He focused on Reb again as he spoke, and then back to Pek, and leaned back as she leaned in.  When he did that, Rei slid off of Den's lap and wandered off to find Kael.

When Reb finally raised his voice, DenJie shifted in his chair to lean a little closer to Pekmae.  When her head dropped, he watched Reb as he exited the area, and there he sat.  With his passed out wife.  This was oddly awkward, if such a situation could ever exist. With a sigh, Den slid his chair around so he could sit directly next to her and lifted her so her head was resting on his shoulder, and he sat there, quietly, merely stroking her hair as gently as possible.

Pek stirred to the scent of her husband and inhaled deeply. He was petting her and she smiled, wondering if her head would ever stop hurting. Then she remembered her rant and she snuggled into his shoulder until her head rested against his chest.

"I'm sorry for everything," she said softly, tears stinging in the backs of her eyes. "I'm sorry I left and I'm sorry you couldn't find me. I'm sorry you had to be with Reb because I know that isn't easy and I'm sorry I yelled at you." She sniffed, wondering if she was broken forever. "I'm sorry I can't stay awake...I'm really trying, though."

She shifted so her arm could snake around his body, somehwere between the chest and belly. "Right now, I don't ever want to be away from you again." She lifted her face and, though her face had aged and there was silver in her hair, her eyes were as young and fierce and gentle as the first day they'd met.

"I love you..." she drawled softly, with eyes that begged for forgiveness and longed for family.

Despite how intense her eyes looked, and how upset at herself she seemed, Den's face contorted into a grin. With a mock sigh, he spoke, "Well, I suppose I'll forgive you."  He said, and then, with a wink, the Jedi added, "Just this once."

Reaching back to what she had said, Den sighed. "You were right to be upset with me for not leaving notice of my well being. I probably shouldn't have ventured out to find you to begin with, but I missed you, Love." DenJie thought about what she'd just said a little more and shook his head, "And Reb's not so bad..  If you can get past his massive dislike for me." And finally, he focused directly on her, his cool blue eyes focusing directly into her, he said: "And at any given time, you can be as close to, or as far away from me as you want.  Just know what you'll never be out of my thoughts, no matter how far away you are."

Pek buried her face in Den's robes as he teased her, and she tickled her fingers across his sides. "You'd better watch yourself...I'm a new woman," she teased and pressed her face close to his chest, listening to his heart. She squeezed him tight when he didn't close her in, but left it up to her to decide how close she would be to him and her family. It felt less binding, and she wondered if she'd evergo off on another adventure.

Resting and safe, Pek felt herself begin to doze then she started and shook her head. With another squeeze she perked up and looked into Den's eyes again. "So what now, Mr. Starunner?"

DenJie pursed his lips in obvious thought.  He'd grown so accustomed to having a plan for what seemed to be forever, he hadn't thought to make a plan for when the adventure ended.  The Jedi's eyes seemed to look past her, and into the future, as if he were searching for an answer.

"I suspect," Den began after a little thought, "we'll go home."

He looked her face over and leaned in and planted a small, soft kiss on her lips, and pulled back, and looked her over again, "Unless you have something better planned?"

Pekmae smiled softly. "Nope, I don't have anything planned. Home sounds great." She jumped up, discovering a new fit of energy, and headed off toward the cockpit. She sat down in her seat and was about to touch the controls when something shivered in her stomach. She stood back up and went back to Den, a slightly lost, confused look on her face. "We'll take the Arkayis, won't we? I mean...we have room...and..." she trailed off.

So this would be good bye...

Reb was busy, but not really. He was tweaking things that were already tweaked, and doing a poor job of it, and dropping his tools. He could almost hear the barest edge of conversation, so he dropped another tool to drown it out. He knew she would leave soon...they all would....

After having someone with him for so long, Reb didn't want to face his empty ship alone.