Shades of Gray -- NJO -- (links pg. 1)

Just for you, JediWarriorYoda:

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She was so absorbed in scouring the sky for any sign of movement, looking for any blur that would resolve itself into a ship, that she was startled by the sound of running footsteps as they approached her. She and Jag spun around, his attention, too, had apparently been focused upward, to see four, no, five people hurrying towards them.

"Jaina," said her mother in a choked voice. "He's coming home," as tears began to run down her face.

Even her father, the legendary space pirated who had cheated death innumerable times and had lived ten lives' worth of adventures, looked, at that moment, like nothing more than a father, tense but overjoyed at the thought of seeing the son who had been lost for so long.

She could see all of those ten lives on both her parents' faces, standing out in sharp relief from their wearied skin. Every wrinkle, every crease, every line of worry seemed to be outlined in gray, as if they had been painted there over the picture of her parents' faces that she was accustomed to seeing. But perhaps that image was wishful thinking. Because while Han and Leia were not yet old, their years showed in the lines on their tired visages, like a map of the hardships they had faced.

Her train of thought was broken by her Aunt Mara, who, as she walked over to Jaina with Ben in her arms, said tensely, "Jaina. We just got the message. When will he be here?"

Slowly, as if being sucked downward through a spiraling drain, Jaina was pulled out of the dreamy fog of thoughts that had so consumed her mind since she had awoken earlier that night to an urgent comm.

Jacen was coming home.

She hadn't truly believed it until this moment, when she saw that there were others who shared her joy. Certainly, Jag had been here with her, but if she were having a delusion, she was quite sure that he would be in it, so his prescence alone could not be trusted.

But when she saw her family rushing towards her, and could feel, hear them, and sense their prescence answering hers in the Force, she realized that the moment was real. All of her joy, finally released from doubt, swelled inside her and touched and merged with the joy of everyone present, and it grew and shone until it seemed that the Force itself was singing.

"Five minutes," she said quietly, smiling. "He should be in sight in five minutes."

"Jag, why are you here?" asked her Uncle Luke. "I don't mean to imply that you need to leave, it just seemed curious."

From the moment that the others had made their prescence known, the love and concern that had enveloped Jaina had faded somewhat, to be replaced by the cool professionalism that so characterized Jag's public façade. Jaina shivered involuntarily as she felt its loss, and was rewarded when that part of Jag that belonged only to her sparked to touch her again, as he cast a worried glance her way before turning to Luke.

"General Antilles contacted me immediately after he spoke with Jaina. He was uncertain as to how long it would take to locate the proper security codes to access yourself and the Solos. He requested that I insure that Jaina was not in need of any help." He paused, hesitantly, "If you wish, I can return to my quarters."

Jaina didn't speak, couldn't speak, but reached out to touch Jag's wrist. Mara caught the gesture, and looked, startled, at Jaina. She answered slowly, "No, that's alright Jag. Please stay."

She opened her mouth once again to say something to Jaina, but was interrupted by the sound of Leia sucking in a breath.

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Oooh, sort-of-cliffie! I have to go to bed now, but if you're out there, please tell me! Good or bad, I can take it.

 

Oooh yay! I have two pages! I'm so excited. And yes, it's like eleven here, and I've been on the computer so much today, I think my family is going to kill me...

 

great post!

 

Thank you so much Lt.JS! I'm glad you're reading it!

 

Ok, I'm seriously going to bed now. Advance thanks to everyone who reads and posts!! I'll try to put the next part up tommorrow (note the "try").

 

That was just for me.... aw, I feel so special. That was great... I loved it.

 

no prob. i was lurking here, but then i delurked!

 

Very good. I'm usually not one for NJO fanfic (I have enough trouble keeping up with the real stuff), but this is very well done, Mairead. If everything you write is this good, it's no wonder you finished high school a year early.

Keep up the great work.

Good night.

 

De-lurks:I just found this wonderful story. Oh, I love this. I like cliffy's even little ones.
So how's Italy? I've never been there.

More soon (looks up hopefully)

 

I really like this so far, but i hate cliffys. but i will live.
more soon please

 

just though I'd say, great story, LM!! love it so far, and looking forward to more!

 

And all identities are now revealed....

 

wow... this is really, really good! i love it! can't wait for more!

 

This is an UP!!

 

You guys are so sweet! I love checking in to find that people actually read it! I don't have time to post at the moment (my fam and I are going out to pick mushrooms or something... crazy europeans. ), but I promise the next post will be up later today. So, on to thank yous:

JWY: You deserved the dedication . Thanks much as always, esp. for the up.

Lt.JS:Yay! A delurker!

KnightAnder:What a nice compliment! I'm so glad you like it, I know NJO is hard to keep track of sometimes...

TSS:Another delurker! Italy's beautiful! If only I could speak Italian... Guess what *voice drops to a whisper* the next post is a sort-of-cliffie too!

Jediksten Thanks and more tonight! Sorry about the cliffie

jags_gurlooh, I'm so happy you like it! I love your fic!

Sache: Heehee. I hope the suspense didn't kill you.

Jedida: Thank you! I love it that authors I like are actually reading this. Oooh, it's making me all tingly...

Thanks again guys, and another post tonight!

 

Picking mushrooms.... sounds a lot like hobbits. Do they have big hairy feet?

 

As a matter of a fact, yes, they do. They're Italian.

 

You better check to see if they have the one ring... you might have to go to Mordor to destroy it.

 

Do they speak English in Mordor? Because then I might just have to take a trip...

 

Bye guys, I'm off to find some fungus. Wish me luck.

 

have fun!

 

No... I think they speak some demented form of Elvish in Mordor.

 

yes, i believe that Sara is right. they speak some skewed form of Elvish in Mordor. that's the language that was on the "One Ring" at least...

 

UP

 

The next post, as promised (this one's for the mushrooms I brutally uprooted this evening):
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From the depth of black, a round, rocky shape emerged and rapidly approached the docking bay. It took Jaina several seconds to overcome her natural instinct to run to her fighter and blast the ship out of the sky. From the twitch she saw in the corner of her vision, she suspected that Jag felt the same way. Curiously, though she could feel Jacen's prescence aboard the ship, it was muted and staticky, as if she couldn't quite tune into the right holocomm station.
Jaina stepped sideways to grasp her mother's hand, who squeezed hers firmly and looked up at Jaina. In Leia's teary smile, she could see all of her hopes and fears reflected.

The oddly-shaped ship, like a coralskipper, but elongated and somehow less threatening, bumped gently down upon the deck. It was an anti-climatic landing; Jaina felt that she deserved some sort of dramatic acknowledgement from the universe at the very moment that her beloved brother returned from the dead.

As the ship's ramp, mossy and organic-looking, began to slowly unroll itself, Jaina began to vaguely wonder why no one else seemed concerned at the groundshake they were suddenly experiencing. It wasn't until Jag gently grabbed her arm that she realized how much she had been trembling.

It seemed to her that her whole life had been leading up to this moment. For the past few years, it had felt as if she were constantly climbing up a steep hill, fighting the underbrush and clawing her was past thorns and brambles that reached out to claw at her at every turn. But the minute that he walked down that ramp and into her arms, she would finally have reached the summit.

The end of the fuzzy green ramp touched the duracrete floor of the docking bay and made a sucking noise as it secured itself to the ground. Jaina felt her body and mind begin to buzz as she heard footsteps approach the docking ramp from inside the ship. When, from somewhere in the cavernous mouth of the craft, she felt the faint edges of an answering buzz begin to tickle her senses through the Force, she could not hold herself back any longer. Releasing Leia's hand and pulling herself out of Jag's grasp, she sprinted headlong up the docking ramp and crashed into the waiting arms of her brother.

Jaina desperately sucked in breath as she buried her face in his shoulder and clutched handfuls of the back of his tunic. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, and he hugged he so forcefully that she was lifed off the floor. She wanted terribly to look at him, to see the face so like her own, to look into the brandy-brown eyes that had so often shared amused, mischevious, or frightened glances with. She wanted nothing more than to reach up and trace her fingers over the face that she had seen wear such myriad expressions over the years. But she was terrified to let go. Terrified that if she released her grip only a milimeter, she would fall back down the hill, pulled by the inexorable tug of reality.

But after a minute, or two, or ten, she felt Jacen's grip relax, and she gathered her courage and stepped back.

And stepped back again in amazement at what she saw.
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I'm sorry guys, I know that post was short and rather poorly done, but I'm exhausted and I have to go to school tommorrow, so it was a rush job. The next post is longer and (hopefully) better. I'll try to have it up tommorrow or tuesday.