{{ simply being loved - chapter 24
The world swam around him. Thoughts, ideas, dreams. Jacen saw flashes of visions that never happened, events that had occured, and things Jacen only saw when he slept. He couldn't feel his body but his mind told him that he was moving his arms and legs. They moved slowly, like most of his visions did... but he could tell that this was reality.
The synapse connected in his brain, letting his eyes open themselves. Jacen tried to focus them but blurs of motion were the only things he could make out. That's when it came to him.
He was floating upside down in a bacta tank. As he moved his head from side to side, he could see strands of brown hair swirl over his eyes. And then he suddenly felt a rush of air as he was ripped from the cylindrical tank and placed on a long medical table. He could feel the excess bacta soaking into the immaculate sheet which was spread out below him. Fingers gently stroked wet strands of brown hair away from his face as a clearly Hapan female loomed over him. She peered into his eyes, placed a hand on his chest and mouthed soundless words to whoever was in the room with them.
Jacen recognized her as the head medic.
As his mind registered her face, he heard her voice, muffled by the bacta that was lingering in his eardrums.
"You stay here and rest for a bit, General."
And with that, the head medic and her assisstant shuffled out of the room.
The General closed his eyes and turned over to his right side, pulling his knees up to his chest. The cool air from the room's ventilation system slid over his damp skin. A large bacta cloth was wrapped around his waist and the bottom reached his knees, partly to keep him modestly covered and the other to continue pushing bacta into his pores. It didn't provide warmth at all. He ached all over. His back hurt, his head hurt, his mind was a mess.
Jacen Solo was alone.
All alone.
His Force powers were exhausted at the moment. He pushed himself to slightly access his connections and as he did, his eyes shot open.
Ahead of him, mere feet away from the bacta tank he was just brought out of, was another identical tank. And the Queen Mother was floating upside-down inside.
Time with Tekli and the other Jedi healers and medics, Jacen knew the basics of a bacta tank. So falling off the medical table and stumbling to the bacta tank's controls and electronic charts, he saw that Tenel Ka's life signs were stable.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Looking to the tank, Jacen gazed at her peaceful form. A cloth like the one he was clothed in was wrapped around her own waist and her right arm was crossed demurely over her chest. She was modestly covered up but Jacen still stared in awe. How she ruled 63 planets with little to no problems and still managed to stay in perfect shape always put him in a stunned silence. She never seemed to have any free time, so when did she get the chance to train? Pressing his face up against the clear outside layer of the tank, he placed his hands on either side of his head, staring in like an older version of little Jacen Solo who used to look out the windows of his Coruscant apartment down to the maze of traffic many, many feet below.
His eyes wandered up to her tan legs. Her knees were bent, slightly pulled up to her chest. The cloth, which was fastened around her waist, hung around her hips and thighs, the bacta letting it defy gravity by hanging upwards as Tenel Ka floated upside-down. Jacen's gaze traveled to where her right arm was covering her chest. He could see that she was breathing steadily and that made him feel a little better. The stump of her left arm was still open and raw and Jacen could see a stream of black and red being pulled out of it by the healing liquid. He let his eyes trail to her face, which looked calm and collected. Her eyes were closed and her lips formed a straight line; she was expressionless as she hung in the thick fluid. The General's eyes moved to the Queen Mother's fiery hair, which was caught in a motionless halo around her head. Strands of wispy red-gold hair crossing her unreadable face.
Jacen was on his knees now, staring into the tank at Tenel Ka's upside-down face. His nose was almost smashed into the glass, he was so close. As he lingered in that spot, the tanks outer layer became foggy with his breath. The cool air still found it's way over his skin, giving him goosebumps; but he felt hot, he felt like he was burning up. He found himself thinking of many random things relating to the Queen Mother in front of him. Every little smile or laugh she ever graced him with, everytime she would stare blankly back to him after one of his jokes, the way she looked at the knighting ceremony... tall, serious and strong. Jacen had been too nervous to approach her. He had returned from a vicious, brutal torture session with the Yuuzhan Vong that spanned immeasurable amounts of time...
And Jacen Solo couldn't even approach his best friend and say hello.
His train of thought was broken when he heard the door to the medical bay slide open. He didn't look to the door, he continued to stare into the tank.
He knew who it was anyways.
"Jasa?"
"Jaya."
He could feel his sister's joy and he turned to watch the smile spread across her face. Jacen stood up, his hands sliding up the tank, stopping at the level of Tenel Ka's hips.
Jaina's smile turned into a wide grin as she dashed around carts of equipment to get to him. Smashing into his open arms she hugged him tight, not caring about the drops of bacta that soaked into her jumpsuit. She nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck and spoke, her voice muffled, "I'm so glad you're alright."
They pulled out of the hug and held each other at arms length, Jaina smiling to her younger brother. It became sly as Jaina looked him up and down.
"I've noticed something Jacen."
"Hm?"
"You've taken an odd liking to female clothing."
Jacen arched a quizzical eyebrow to his sister.
"The old mission to Helska 4 had you in a cute number... Anhaje told me about you sneaking into Tenel Ka's room in her robes, then you the next morning, donning the robes yet again! And now look at you, in an adorable little bacta skirt!"
Jaina's cackles filled the white, sterile medical bay as Jacen let go of his sister and chuckled quietly, shaking his head.
"I've had my reasons for all of them," Jacen crossed his arms, snapping his head to move strands of damp, matted hair. "And you have to admit, Jay, I looked drop dead gorgeous in every single outfit."
Jacen's sarcasm made Jaina's face light up even brighter as giggles erupted from her system. The twins shared a laugh and as the room fell into a silence again, Jaina spoke up.
"What about Tenel Ka?"
Jacen turned his head left to gaze back to the bacta tank. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen the medic yet."
"Gadell?"
"I don't know where he is."
"I heard what happened from Anhaje. They found out from Ta'a Chume, who is now being held in the cells in the other wing of the Palace."
Jacen nodded. He was thankful that she was locked up. That means she couldn't harass anyone, which is what she seemed to do best. Jaina stuffed her hands into her pockets and began to stroll over to Tenel Ka's tank, watching the Queen Mother with alert brandy-brown eyes. "I hope Gadell is ok. Uncle Luke is raring to speak to him."
"I'm sure he is. Vessau had the Force the whole time and I didn't even know it." Jacen stepped up beside his sister, and let his eyes travel from her serious expression to Tenel Ka's peaceful visage.
"No one knew it."
"General! Glad to see you are awake."
The twins spun around to look at the door. The head medic stood there with a slightly cheery grin on her face. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled into a bun on the back of her head and her bright blue-gray eyes beamed in Jacen's direction as she was shocked by his recovery.
"Thank you, ma'am. It was thanks to you and your medics that I recovered this quickly."
It was mid-afternoon. It had only been a few standard hours since the confrontation with Ta'a Chume. The medic smiled and Jacen continued.
"Is Ten--- the Queen Mother going to be alright?"
"She shall be fine. In fact, she should be waking up any minute." She nodded her head, motioning for Jacen to join her near the door. He meandered towards her and stopped where she was standing, beside a glass tank. Jaina joined them and they peered down into the lighted chamber.
On one side a shiny, black metallic arm. And on the other, a small cube made out of the same material.
"That is obviously the arm that was placed on the Queen Mother. And that," she pointed to the cube, "was inside Gadell's back, drilling it's way towards his heart. It is made out of the same material as the arm and our studies so far have proved that both pieces had the same liquid in them. A mix of mind-affecting poison and ysalamiri blood."
Jacen drew in a breath, "Gadell. Where is he?"
The medic's face became dim as she peered up to Jacen's questioning chestnut eyes. The General felt his heart sink. He felt Jaina's right hand grasp his own behind his back.
Silence hung in the air for eons.
"He is on a bacta table in the other room." She pointed to a door on the west wall of the chamber, "He is alive. But very weak. If he makes it through the screening process, he should be better in a few hours. But we are frightened to start it, for fear of triggering something in his system and shutting off any spark of life he might be clinging to."
Jacen tilted his head and squeezed his sister's hand, "Screening process?"
"We have to make sure all the poison is out of his system. And we have to check to see if there are any other metal objects like that cube lingering in his body."
Jacen and Jaina silently stared to the medic.
"I should go prep the assisstants and get ready. I am glad to see you are awake, General. The Queen Mother should be awake soon." With that, the lead medic bowed her head and exited the room, leaving the twins in a morose silence.
Jacen's eyes peered towards the side door. He could feel a weak presence behind it. Gadell.
He was tugged back to reality when Jaina ran her hand up to his shoulder. "Jace, he'll be fine."
Jacen nodded.
And as sisterly instinct grabbed Jaina, she nodded towards the royalty awakening itself from it's peaceful slumber. "But for now, I'll leave you two alone."
The General glanced in the direction his sister tilted her head in and saw Tenel Ka's form thrashing lethargically around in the bacta. Jaina vanished from the room and Jacen dashed to the controls, pressing the sequence to open the lid. He knew she was probably able enough to get herself out, any help from him would be scorned upon. He stood and waited, staring towards the tank.
Moments later, realizing the state of dress the Queen Mother was in, Jacen's cheeks flushed and he spun away from her, whistling innocently. He heard low growls as the Queen Mother hoisted herself up over the edge and landed on the floor, her feet lightly crashing to the ground. The room was silent except for the shuffling sounds she was making as she stood up straight, fixing the cloth around her waist. He heard her grab the sheet off of the medical table. He heard a slight cough. Jacen took in every sound one by one, picturing the Queen Mother performing each action with a swift, royal air. His thoughts drifted to sight instead of sound as he shut his eyes, imagining his longtime friend situating and placing the medical sheet around her body, slick with drops of bacta ---
"Jacen."
His eyes shot open and he cursed himself for floating into perverse streams of thought. Slowly, he spun on his heel to face Queen Mother Tenel Ka Chume Djo.
It was her.
Gray eyes. Unreadable expression. Damp mane of copper hair. Muscular legs poised in a stance of awareness. Right hand on her hip...
Left arm. Absent.
The General blinked.
Tenel Ka let her eyes trail down to the stump of her left arm. "Solo. That is the second time you have rid me of this limb."
The freakishly sterile silence of the room was shattered when Jacen began laughing. His back ached everytime he let out a loud chuckle, but he couldn't help it. He was ecstatic.
"Did I say something funny?" Tenel Ka replied to Jacen's laugh with a question. A genuine question. She stared at him with a slightly quizzical and confused expression. "I was just stating the facts."
"I know..." Jacen tried to catch his breath, placing both hands on his hips. "I know you were." The smile lingered on his face after his laughing ceased. And letting fleeting moments pass, Jacen stepped forward and wrapped the Queen Mother up in a hug. As he stood in the middle of the voiceless medical bay with his best friend in his arms, he took everything in.
Jacen remembered when Tenel Ka topped out inches above him and he had to look up to her to tell her jokes. Now the top of her head reached his eye level. He had a shivering, modestly covered but practically naked Queen Mother of 63 planets pulled close to his chest, her forehead resting on his collarbone. Once one of his adventuring fellow Academy-goers, who could beat him at anything athletic or physical. And now he, himself, could actually pose a challenge towards her in those sorts of activities.
So much had changed.
Yet nothing had changed at all.
Jacen felt a shudder rack her body as well as a drop of warmth running down his collarbone and down his chest. Hesitantly, he pulled Tenel Ka away from him and instantly spotted tears in her gray eyes.
"Tenel Ka, what---"
"I am sorry Jacen. I am so sorry." Looking down at Jacen's chest, she could still see traces of scars where fibercord had dug into him. She saw bruises on his skin. She saw bags under his eyes. "I did so much to you. And I did not even mean to."
Jacen shook his head, placing both hands on her shoulders, "Tenel Ka, stop this nonsense. You did nothing. You were poisoned and tricked and manipulated and who knows what else Ta'a Chume had planned. But it's all over now."
Silence.
"It's all over. I promise."
She nodded and took a few steps backwards, walking as steadily as she could to the medical table. Pulling herself onto it, Jacen sat himself beside her.
"Uhm, Tenel Ka?"
"Hm?" She turned her head sideways to stare into Jacen's inviting pools of brandy-brown.
"At one point... I don't know if you'll remember anything about it... but at one point. You... you were getting a little frisky and something happened and I blacked out. And... I--- I wokeupnakedinbedsocanyoutellmewhathappenedhuh?"
The last half of the sentence came out in a quick jumble. Yet Tenel Ka knew exactly what he was speaking of.
"Jacen... it was like a whole new person took over my body when that mechanical limb was attached to my arm. She... I... At that point I --- well she wanted Force knows what and I... went to your quarters. She... she began to get a bit odd towards you. And I... she..." Tenel Ka drew in a deep breath, "...undressed you but by that point something had happened and you were out cold. I... She. She got bored and left you there."
"What about the poison? It was all over my hands when I woke up."
"You cracked where the arm met my skin while you were in that trance of yours..."
Jacen recalled the loud crack he heard during his vision then, glancing back to the now empty tanks for a few moments. He suddenly felt a wave of playfulness wash over him.
"So... that means my best friend, after all these years, has seen me naked. Kriff, she even undressed me herself." Jacen looked over to the Queen Mother, who eyes were widening. "What'd you think, your highness? I take it you like what you saw..."
Tenel Ka's jaw dropped for a moment before Jacen spoke.
"Oh come on... I'm---"
"Just kidding."
"Of course," he let the infamous lopsided grin cross his face as he leaned back, resting his hands on the medical table behind him.
There's so much I have to tell her about. The visions. Gadell's condition. But it can all wait.
The General looked over to the Queen Mother, who was absently staring at the empty tanks. He wanted to take her back into his arms, wrap them both up in the huge sheet she clothed herself in and hold her close. He wanted to let their sweat mingle, he wanted to whisper sweet nothings in her ears -- sprinkling those with the occasional perverse premises; to see how much he could make the Queen Mother blush and to see her reactions. As each thought and desire slid around his mind, Jacen found himself inching towards her, leaning up behind her. She paid no attention to him, she was lost in her own thoughts, staring forward.
His lips were mere inches away from her bare right shoulder, where Jacen was planning to let go. He would've let his lips trail up her neck, behind her ear, down to her lips, across her collarbone...
But they didn't even get the chance to meet with her skin before he suddenly pulled back, at the sound of the medical bay's door sliding open. The head medic came in, greeted the Queen Mother and Jacen and began relaying what had happened to the young queen. Jacen sighed.
"And Gadell should be up and about in a few hours. The screening went fine, no trace of anything in his system. But you, your highness, you need to go back to your quarters."
"Why?"
"We will call it a sort of quarantine. You might still have traces of the poison left in your system and you will have to let it drain. If there is still certain amounts left in you, you are a danger to anyone near you."
"Why can't you screen her like you did to Gadell?"
"Good question, General. But there is only one place we can do that and that is the bacta table. We only have one here and the Commander is healing upon it right now. Anyways, it would not be comfortable for the Queen Mother, so we are letting it drain from her system naturally."
Jacen tilted his head and glanced to Tenel Ka. She was never one to disobey medical orders, unless it was someone feeding her lies about a replacement left arm. A nod.
"If I must."
The head medic smiled slightly and pulled a cloak off of a rack by the door, wrapping it around the Queen Mother. "Come along, your highness." The head medic led Tenel Ka out of the medical bay and as they left, Jacen heard a voice loud and clear in his head.
'Jacen, I need to see you later.'
'Consider it done.'
Jacen started over to the sink of the medical bay, aiming to get washed up. He didn't know exactly why Tenel Ka wanted to see him that night. And he didn't know how, with her quarantine, but he would find a way. It was finally time to show her how he felt, now that she was definitely herself again.
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