Stubborn Love

[Judah Dashiell]

Night had fallen on Ceto long ago. The large white beach house was fairly quiet, a scattering of lights still left on inside. Judah flipped the unneeded ones off as he went along, falling into a well worn nightly pattern. Footsteps stopped at a half-cracked door. Shaggy head poked in to check in on his sleeping son, the boy giving a gentle half-wheezing snore to indicate he had long ago succumbed to slumber.


A half-smile touched his features before continuing his trip down the upstairs hall. Yawning himself, Judah reached his office and flipped on the lamp on the desk. Soon he was sitting at the desk, reclining back in the fairly comfortable office chair. A long sip of his ale was downed before eyebrows raised at something across his datapad screen.


"Delay in the Solarium glass shipments?" Muttering to himself, the ale bottle came to rest on the desk, both hands coming to scroll through the datapad. "We need those before the Southern Systems Expo..."


Hand ran through his curly hair, thinking.


"We could add a shift to the Tabaqui facility....that would mean around the clock production....Or..." A long pause as he thought out a plan. "We make the Solarium glass part of the premium package....Could be a good marketing angle..."



[member="Thessa Kai"]

 

[Thessa Kai]

How long has it been?

Too long.

Feelings of guilt and trepidation wormed their way into the Galan's gut. Things she never thought would keep her away had: work, missions, pilot training. People threatened her and Makai. And Judah. It became harder and harder to return home because with each assignment she felt more guilt. More out of touch with her family. More like they would never forgive her. More like she would never forgive herself. More out of control. More worried of leading the bad guys home.

Had Judah and Makai gotten too accustomed to living without her?

Shoulders dropped. She was definitely thinner than before. Dark circles marred her scale-speckled skin beneath the eyes. Hand paused at the door. She felt like a stranger in her own house. Fumbling with the keycode, she finally managed to get the door open with a swoosh.

Tired feet hesitated as she did the hardest thing she had done in her life, she stepped over the threshold, not knowing what was to come. Bag dropped with a quiet thud on the inside door and she paused, blinking at the sudden hum of motion-triggered lights.

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Typing came to a slow halt as new directions for the Southern Systems project came to a close. Not so much a project but a new product designed for the more fringe masses. Either way, a delay would be costly. Hitting the send on his message, Judah frowned a little. It sounded like the front door had opened.


Slipping back down the hall, he grabbed the blaster from [member="Thessa Kai"] 's nightstand, finding it tucked way back in the drawer. He closed Makai's door gently and crept back down the hallway. With the lights flooding the entry and living room, it was clear something had entered the home.


Blaster at the ready, Judah had edged around the corner of the stairs to see what was going on.A small bit of hope was being held out he wouldn't have to shoot anyone while barefoot and in pajamas -- it just seemed like a poor way to go on the part of the intruder. He was more surprised to see it wasn't some idiot kid who had decided to break in but his own wife. Blaster immediately switched back to safety as he descended down the stairs.


His gaze swept over to appraise her. Thin, too thin. Skin was paler than his own, which if you asked Thessa would be quite a feat. Dark circles indicated a general lack of sleep and rest. Eyebrows knit together in concern as he drew closer, a little unsure of what to do.


There was the overwhelming desire to kiss her until they were both breathless. To protect her from whatever harm. Drag her to the to the kitchen and force her to eat until the weight returned. An overwhelming desire to fix things, even though he wasn't sure what he was fixing.


Not wanting to stand awkwardly around but not wanting to spook her at the same time, Judah settled for a middle-of-the-road option. Pulling her in for a hug, a quick kiss was planted on her temple.


"Welcome home."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Eyes adjusted and Judah was there. Lips parted to say....she didn't know what. She braced herself for a lecture, for condemnation. She really had been gone too long because it was silly of her to think that something like that would come from Judah. His arms were around her instantly. His breath in her ear, cascading down her neck.

Welcome. Home.

Simple words that shattered some of that trepidation built up in her chest. It's hard to break muscle memory. Her arms knew what to do. They wrapped around him tightly. She was exhausted. Broken emotionally and he had the opportunity to break her further. But he didn't. He never would. All her fears about coming home seemed silly now. Except for the threats.

There would always be threats.

Before she knew what was happening, she was sobbing into his shoulder. Later, she would deny it outright. "I've missed you and Makai. I'm so sorry. "

There would be more words to say. More stories. But later. She wanted to see Makai. She would crawl in bed with her son. Hold him in her arms. But right now the only one keeping her on her feet was her husband.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]


He could have started off with questioning. Let loose pent up frustration at her absence. Questioned her activity. A barrage of demands wasn't going to help the situation. Despite the frustration over the last several months, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It didn't seem to matter in the long run, unless he wanted to drive his wife away from him. Time apart only reaffirmed that Thessa was the only one for him.


Soon enough her tears were soaking his shirt anyways. Thess wouldn't cry over merely missing them, he knew her too well. Something lingered under the surface.


"We missed you too. I'm sure Makai will be happy regaling you with all his stories."


Judah decided to leave her bag at the door, he'd get it in the morning. Arm went to slip around her much thinner frame, his free hand making sure their door was locked. Happy everything was secure, he debated merely carrying her up the stairs. If he knew his wife correctly she'd prefer to walk, no matter how tired she was or painful it may be.


Human crutch it would be, allowing her to lean as much as possible as they ascended the stairs.


"Hey...." Judah paused, bringing up rarely spoken words between them. "I love you."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

"I love you too," she whispered against him. She leaned heavily against his sturdy frame, feeling like a stranger and at home at the same time. She paused at Makai's door. "Wait...wait," whisper left aqua-lips. "I have to see him." Quietly, she nudged the door to their son's room open. He was sleeping peacefully. Mouth was wide open with a healthy bit of drool seeping out.

She staggered against Judah, almost losing her footing.

Even half covered beneath sheets, she saw how much he had grown. Even the pictures Judah sent her periodically didn't help the shock at seeing Makai in-person. "Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Iced-azure gaze never left Makai's sleeping form as she asked the question.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]


Half-wheezing snore erupted from their son as they stood and stared, drool coming out of his open mouth. His little plastic building toys littered the floor, multi-colored blocks a nightmare for anyone who entered in the dark. Judah couldn't help but feel a twinge of fatherly pride that their kid was turning out decent. A good chunk of the credit went to Thessa, naturally.


"I think his forgiveness will be quite easy....just expect a thousand questions about what you've been doing."


Judah gave her shoulders a little squeeze of reassurance.


"We won the kid lottery, he's amazing. Are you sure they didn't send us home with the wrong one?" Quiet chuckle escape from his lips. He didn't need to wake Makai just yet. As much as Thessa wanted to spend time with him, he didn't need his wife falling dead on her feet while dealing with their overactive spawn.


"Lets not wake him...Makai's been coming in to our room early mornings to lay on your side and watch his Captain Atlantis cartoons. It'll be a good surprise."


Judah peered down at her, Thessa was still staring ahead at their sleeping son.


"You're a great Ma. You can stop guilt tripping yourself."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

His voice brought her back from her most destructive thoughts. She quietly pulled the door closed, shooting her husband a sideways glance. "How do you always know what I'm thinking?" As much as she wanted to stay staring at their son forever, or even wake him up, she knew Judah was right. She was dead on her feet.

"And yeah, I guess we did good. I hope you haven't been giving him icecream and brownies for dinner every night." She sagged against him even more, eyelids drooping.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]


"Newly acquired mind reading abilities. Only works on Galans though."


At this point he was all but dragging her down the hall. They didn't have too far too go, a short trip past the hall bathroom and his office before their final stop at the master bedroom. One arm was propping up a heavily drooping Thessa while the other was trying to pull back the covers, all without dropping his wife on the floor.


Maneuvering her on the bed was his final feat, stopping to bend to lift her legs up onto the mattress as well. Boots came off and that was as far as Judah was going. Trying to put pajamas or even anything remotely different than her current clothing would be a challenge. Like trying to dress one semi-uncooperative dead body.


Covers were pulled back up over her form and the lights turned out.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]

Dawn was breaking through his curtains, waking him up from sleep. He stretched a little and slipped out of bed, clad in a Captain Atlantis shirt and his matching shorts, Makai was ready to start the day like he had for months on end. Little feet nimbly stepped around the in-progress buildings that were sprouting up on the wood floor. Action figures lay fallen in imaginary battles. Somehow Makai knew how to step through this without stepping on a thing, working his way out and down the hall.


Door opened to his parents room. Picking the remote for the holovision mounted to the wall across the room, he started around the bed to sit on Mama's "side" of things. Yet there was someone there. Iced azure eyes widened in surprise, tip-toeing closer to the sleeping form. Nearly holding his breath, Makai was soon peering into the face of his mother.


Scale-speckled hand came out to prod her, make sure she was real. Felt real enough.


"Mama? Mama?"


Makai crawled over her sleeping form(carefully as a five year old can) and wedged himself between his parents, no small feat since there wasn't much space between them. Nudging his father over, he crawled under the covers too.


"Dad? Dad? Daaaad? Did you know Mama is home?"


Little hand came to shake his mothers shoulder.


"Wake up."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

Iced-azure eyes flew open, a smile spread, quickly widening on aqua-lips. "There's my little munchkin." With surprisingly fast reflexes for someone already sleep-deprived just waking up, arms snaked around the small form of her son, holding him close. She grinned and began to tickle him, hoping Judah wouldn't mind the stray foot-kick to his side.

"I missed you Makai and I love you so much."

She stopped tickling and just held him close.

"I guess you're never gonna escape, huh?" A smile colored her tone.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Little foot connected soundly with one of Judah's ribs, stopping him mid-snore and eliciting a groan. Makai giggled more with the act. He twisted and turned, trying to escape the wraith of the tickling fingers. There was a futile effort to try to tickle back but it didnt work. Soon he was trying to catch his breath as he was snuggled close.


"I don't wanna escape."



Scale speckled hand picked at the sleeve, prodding it a little kid fashion.


"Why aren't you in 'jamas?"


Makai wiggled and squirmed around a little, twisting so he could a better look at [member="Thessa Kai"] . Iced azure gaze met iced azure. Little brows furrowed.


"Mama? Mama did you leave 'cause I was bad? Miss Ar-cen-now said no but sometimes she lies. Not like bad lies...like the small kind. 'Cause I've been really good when you were away."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

"Mommy was trying out new jammies but I don't recommend them. Not as comfy as your bantha ones." A small smile curled on aqua-lips before disappearing into a worried look.

"No, no, sweetie." A scale-speckled hand came up to smooth through some of her son's tousled, messy curls. Definitely got Judah's hair. "It had nothing to do with you. There are a lot of bad guys out there that mommy had to take care of. Understand?"

She continued playing with his hair.

"And Miss Danger, huh? Sounds like you and Daddy spent a lot of time with her," driftwood brows rose as she peaked over Makai's shoulder at Judah, a silent question in her gaze.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]


"Bad guys?"


Eyes went wide with the possibilities. He watched Captain Atlantis fight bad guys every morning on the screen. Sometimes the bad guys were people. Other times big sea creatures with special powers. Makai wasn't so sure his Mom was out fighting diabolical sea creatures at every twist and turn. He had heard some stories from his parents, the cleaned up versions, of course.


"When will I be old enough to fight bad guys with you?"


Makai was trying to figure out how old exactly and when. First he'd actually have to learn to fly....


"Yep, we did.Miss Ar-cen-now came with us on a boat trip. I taught her how to caught crabs but I don't think they have crabs where she is from. Then she made us spaghetti and then we went to a waterpark but we had to look at some boring stations first. Dad bought two of those I think..."


Snuggling closer, he tried to think of his other activities.


"Then Nana was busy so Miss Ar-cen-now watched me and we had a dart gun fight. I got to spend the night."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Giving up on any hope of sleep, Judah had rolled onto his side facing [member="Thessa Kai"] and Makai. He loved watching the two of them interact, especially the questions from their son. Yawning, he rubbed his face and ran a hand through his own unruly hair as the question of fighting 'bad guys' was brought into the conversation. He never suspected Makai would take over the company, although Judah certainly was exposing him early enough to get a glimpse.


Most likely the kid would be 'borrowing' their X-Wings in a few short years and getting in all sorts of adventure-like trouble. Just like his mother.


Who was currently raising her eyebrows at him. It didn't help that Makai had just finished 'spending the night' as her questioning gaze searched his face. There was nothing to hide but it was a delicate situation to tread on around the Tadpole.


"Yeah, we did spend a lot of time with Miss Arceneau. I hear she spoiled you while you two were hanging out. I suppose that made up for all the boring business talk you had to deal with."


A small smile was directed towards his wife, his hand finding hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. Was she still caught up on the [member="Danger Arceneau"] issue? Judah suspected if the situations were reversed he'd be equally worried....just as he had been concerned she had found a new and better partner in crime while fighting 'bad guys'.

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Thessa's driftwood brows furrowed. Had she net Danger before? Maybe at a party a long time ago. But the woman had a reputation. Big curves and words spoken sweetly like nabooian honey to lure in all kinds of flies. Business flies. She was a business woman rumored to be aligned with sith in some cases.

The Galan was married to the only business person she trusted.

"I'm glad you had fun baby," she hugged Makai closer for a second, running her hand through his hair like he liked. Well, like he did before she left. Hand came to cover Makai's little ears.

"You trust that woman?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"]


The mood had shifted from family (somewhat)fun to serious quickly. Pushing himself up, Judah's back came to rest against the polished wood headboard. Hand went through his unruly hair, although it didnt seem to make much of a difference in taming it. He was struggling how to answer the question despite it not being a very difficult one.


He looked down at their squirming son, iced-azure eyes trying to catch a glimpse of any action.


"Thats...a tough question. I don't trust many folks completely....two of 'em are in the room right now." Mouth gaped like a fish for a moment as he thought to continue. "I don't know. I trust her well enough. She's done right by the Tadpole.....Seems to like him as her own almost. Trusted her enough to watch him overnight."


"Do I trust her completely? I don't think she's in that category yet but its an exclusive club..."


A pause as he looked down at Makai once more. Clearly the boy was growing agitated by not being included in the conversation.


"Is he in danger?"

 

[Thessa Kai]

"I've just seen some things about some of the people she's done business with. But...," Aqua-lips pursed closed for a moment. "I trust you but I certainly don't trust her."

She released the squirming Makai and gave him one last hug and kiss. "Why don't you give mommy and daddy some grown up talk time and get dressed for breakfast?"

She would talk to Judah more about their relative safety.

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"But...but I always miss the good conversations." Makai pouted a little as he was released. He had turned around and sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at both of his parents. Not moving didn't seem seem to be working so he started to leave. "Its still not fair."


"Life isn't fair.Now, I think your Ma brought Sparky home, go change and wake him up.Then start pulling out everything for those pancakes with the little sprinkles in 'em. Kelp juice too."


There was a small whoop of victory from Makai as their son disappeared. Judah shook his head before looking back at [member="Thessa Kai"] .Sometimes he couldn't believe that boy. Willing himself to get out of bed, he padded barefoot over to their door, closing it. If Makai was anything like every other child in the universe, no doubt he would taken the opportunity to hang around the corner to listen in. Shutting the door would at least muffle most of what they had to say.


"Now that we've gotten rid of prying ears."


Crossing the room, Judah went back and sat on her side of the bed, just on the edge so she wouldn't have to move.


"So what's got you spooked Thess?"

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

"Nothing. I just. I've heard some thing about Danger. In my travels and fighting. She may look good on paper Judah, but I don't trust her. Just promise me you'll be careful?"

She knew something like that could set him off. This other woman, had been more in Judah's and Makai's life than she had been able to. And it was painful. But the things she heard about this red haired-floozy erm, woman, weren't to be ignored. Especially when it involved Makai's safety and exposure. Feet swung out of the bed and she scooched by Judah, planting a lingering kiss on his temple. Standing, the Galan began to peel of the crinkled mission-clothes, making her way to the sanisteam.