Beyond - Legends [Moving Challenge] Need For Contact [Drama]

Title: Need For Contact
Author: DaenaBenjen42
Characters: Jaina, Jag, Ben...
Timeframe: ...would have been the NJO, were this cannon...
Notes: Written for the Mods Moving Challenge and a continuation of "Need to Remember" from the Fic Gift Exchange. This is a prequel.

~*~*~*~

It was quiet in the bedroom as he packed clothes into a bag in preparation for his mission. He knew she wanted to speak to him, but about what was still unclear. They'd been in the middle of breakfast when he'd gotten orders to report for a mission, and that had been that. Finally closing the bag and unable to delay departure any longer, he turned to her. "Guess I'm off, then."

She simply looked at him for a long moment, as if to drink in the sight of him, before nodding once. "I guess you are."

That was an odd response if there ever was one. "Is something wrong, Jaina?"

"Why would anything be wrong, Jag?" She crossed the room to his side and embraced him. "Nothing is. I just don't think this mission is necessary. And you haven't been home that long."

He stared down at the woman in his arms. Something was different, but he couldn't put his finger on what that might be, nor did he think she'd tell him right this minute. "I'll be back in two weeks."

"Promise?"

"Yes, Jaina. I promise."

She kissed him soundly on the lips, then smiled demurely up at him. "I'll be holding you to that. So will your son."

That brought up another concern. Their son, who wasn't even a year old yet. Who had uttered his first word, "Da-flee!", only yesterday. "I..."

She put a finger to his lips, silencing him. "Like you said... two weeks."

Only with her subtle encouragement was he able to leave the apartment in moderately good spirits.

----

Three weeks had come and gone, and now she held in her hands a piece of flimsy. Three weeks, a week longer than he was supposed to be gone. Slowly, she leaned against the wall and sank to the floor, still holding the flimsy.

On it was a message relayed to Coruscant across the holonet which had used a secured encryption code. She stared at it, almost unable to read it, but lacking the motivation to throw it as far away from her person as possible.

The longer she sat there, the more Jaina refused to believe that the love of her life was dead. She'd have felt it, if that were the case. Right?

---

She wasn't sure how long she sat there on the floor, clutching a piece of flimsy, but all of a sudden the door a couple feet to her right opened and all three of her cousins came in. Jaina stared up at them. "What...?

Ben pursed his lips tightly as his sisters hauled Jaina up off the floor. "We just heard."

Jaina blinked in confusion at the three of them as the flimsy was taken out of her hand. "But..."

"No buts, Jaina." Soon enough, she was seated on the couch. "And you shouldn't be alone."

"Ben, I'm..." one of her cousins cleared their throat, effectively cutting her off. "What, Ri-Ri?"

"Say you're fine, and I'll actually let Ben give you a physical here and now." Startled silence greeted that statement and Jaina could only stare at her. "Tally? Go find her something to eat and check on the munchkin." The youngest of her three concerned cousins simply nodded and left to do as requested while Ri-Ri sat down next to Jaina. "And now you listen to me. We'll find him."

Jaina looked to the flimsy in Ben's hand. "We will?"

"Yes," Ben told her as he sat down on her other side. "We will. They know the general area where he went missing."

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Right. Like that helps!"

Ri-Ri's eyes went distant for a moment. "Everything helps, Jaina. Everything."

Jaina gestured for the flimsy, but Ben did not hand it back to her. "Please?"

"No." Then his eyes widened as he sensed something... "Oh. Did he know before he left?" At Jaina's blank expression, Ben sighed. "That you're...?"

Getting what he meant, finally, Jaina shook her head. "No. I didn't want to distract him, and it was only supposed to be a short mission. He was supposed to be back a week ago."

Ben nodded slowly, then took her in his arms and hugged her. A moment later, Ri-Ri joined them in the hug.


To be continued...

 

This is off to an interesting start! I like that you are continuing Need to Remember. Looking forward to more!

 

Very nice! Can I get a tag when you post more. Thanks!

 

Very interesting start, Daena!

 

Hi there! Daena - where was I when you wrote a J/J fic I like this and would like tags and will scoot over to read the sequel, or refresh my memory if I did happen to read it -- unless it is waaaay too truncated Hugs!!!

 

Tarsier: I tried to continue it in drabble sets, but that didn't work, so the alternative is this. Thank you.

Jedi_Lover: There shall be tags. Thank you.

Hazel: Thank you.

Jade_eyes: It wasn't that long, so it's not tooo truncated. Glad you like.

...and my muse took a sabatical when the move happened, so it'll be a while before the next part.

 

A/N: I can totally blame my psych teacher for the Plot Bunny Attack, right? Right. (Also... We're in Sea of Flowers continuity.)

~*~*~*~

A knock on the door caused the four of them to startle, and Ben went to answer it, only to find his mother... and very translucent, glowing, older sister. "Um..."

His older sister sighed. "Yeah. I didn't miss the walking through walls thing, either."

Ben frowned, not quite processing what it meant. "Are you dead?"

She glared at him. "No!"

"Then..."

"Meditation accident, and I'm not happy about it!"

He glanced at his mother, to find her face carefully blank, but for her eyes. She was laughing! Why was she laughing? Stepping aside to allow them entry, and then closing the door, he frowned again. "What kind of accident?"

"The kind where I can't get back into my body without Elsie's help and she's on extra-dimensional duty and won't be back for three or four weeks."

"Oh." Which didn't make any sense whatsoever, seeing as they had multiple experts on meditation in this family.

Mara chuckled suddenly. "At least it wasn't because of a Sith Ghost, Little Needle."

"True." Neesta frowned at Ben. "How is Jaina?"

"Pregnant... with a missing husband. How do you think she is?"

"That bad, huh?"

Ben watched her march to the living room, then glanced at his mother again. "Why was she meditating? She almost never does."

Mara sighed. "She was trying to find them."

"What?"

"Exactly."

~*~*~*~

The scene Neesta found in the living room made her want to curse all over again for having gone translucent and not being able to do what she set out to do in the first place. It should have worked. Would have worked, had it not been for the sudden screams that had sounded when she'd been at a very sensitive point in meditation. Popping into the Security Council meeting only to lose her temper at the reality of the situation hadn't solved anything, either. "So..."

Riana glanced up from where she sat with Jaina and frowned. "I must be seeing things. You're glowing."

Jaina's head shot up and she stared at the spectacle of Neesta's current state. "And see through. What happened to you? You haven't been see-through and glowing since we were kids!"

"Didn't miss it much, either," Neesta muttered as she "pulled" a chair over with an audible grunt and sat in it. "Yep. Still hard."

"But..."

"I won't be trying to find anybody the way I could when I was like this originally until Elsie gets back from wherever," Neesta told her with a sigh. "I tried the meditation thing, ended up like this, and I'm sorry I failed to find them, Jaina."

Jaina blinked in surprise. "You were trying to..."

"Find them, yes."

"Is this like the accident that she and Jacen had once?" Riana wondered. "They switched bodies by accident that time, though."

Neesta shook her head. "Not quite, and Dad was stumped, too. That's why we have to wait for Elsie. She's the expert."

Jaina glanced over her shoulder to find Aunt Mara and Ben watching them from the doorway, noting how upset her aunt seemed. "Oh." Then she looked at Neesta, smiled. "Thank you for trying, though. It means a lot to me that you did."

Talina frowned suddenly. "What do you mean, hasn't been see-through since we were kids? She was?"

Neesta smiled at her youngest sister. "That's a story all unto itself, Tally. But... yes. I was."

With that, Mara and Ben joined their circle and the six of them talked for a while. Eventually, Jag would be found. Until then, all they could do was hope.

 

Tags: Tarsier , Jedi_Lover , Hazel , Nyota's Heart

 

Hello! What a fun and riveting continuation. Love the L/M extended/larger family aka more kids Worried about missing Jag and the switching bodies thing sounds hilarious with Jacen and Jaina. Read a fic where Luke and Corran did that - it had me laughing from beginning to end!!!!!

 

Nice to see everyone coming in to help out.

 

Where is Jag?!? He is one of my favorite EU characters other than Mara and Karrde. Nice update.

 

Nyota's Heart: The idea was originally for Neesta to solve the whole thing by meditating on it, but the idea didn't go anywhere, and then there was this angle that I loved with the meditation flub... and in this AU they've got three. Thank you.

Tarsier: Thank you.

Jedi_Lover: Let me put it this way... I know where he's not. Thank you.