Title: Respite
Author: Emmy
Rating: PG (for Poor General)
Archive: Go for it
Disclaimer: I don't own ANYBODY in this one.
Summary: Read it and find out. Occurs after Aya's 'Vacation' and during my 'Beyond the Sea.'

"Can you believe that?"

Space Dog barked.

Jael yanked the small tupperware full of leftover macaroni out of the fridge. "Han was in THIS BUILDING, and I missed it. They're playing on the beach with him right now, and here I am all alone with Cal and a couple of obnoxious bots. All because of Galactic Civ."

Space Dog barked.

"And why didn't you let me know about this, Space Dog? You must have heard the General's announcements."

Space Dog barked.

"Diebin knocked on my door, too?? Why didn't you let me know?"

Space Dog barked.

Jael sighed. "I appreciate that you are concerned about my GPA. I'm sorry I got snippy with you." Jael scratched Space Dog's ear as she shoved a fork full of macaroni into her mouth.

~*~

The General cursed as he drove Cal's Mustang home from Aya's school, still unable to remove the Kid Rock CD from the stereo. However, he decided that he had probably destroyed enough property for one week, so he had to tolerate the noise in stoic Jedi fashion. If it weren't for the fact that the volume knob was stuck as well, he may just have succeeded.

He slammed on the brakes on the deserted two-lane road and focused his concentration on the stereo until it began to smoke and the music began to warp. He grinned as melted CD oozed out the face and then proceeded down the road again.

~*~

"Show me the money!" Cal yelled as Crow's shoe landed on his Park Place property.

"Were you born this way, or did you devolve?" Crow asked.

"Who da man?" Cal shouted as he jumped up and tried to get funky, probably the only opportunity he'd get since he'd been forbidden by the Ho's to even set foot in the lounge.

Jael groaned and walked out of the room, intending without a doubt to tell Diebin that the padawannabe had been loitering in an off-limits area. Space Dog trotted quickly behind her, not wanting to witness the display, either.

"Well, I could try to debug the system again," Jael sighed.

Space Dog barked.

"No, I don't really feel like doing that again, but what else is there to do?"

Space Dog barked.

"Yeah, maybe I will just go to bed."

~*~

It was dusk by the time the General parked the Mustang next to the garage of sabotaged cars. He paused briefly as he stepped out of the car, telling himself that perhaps he should work on repairing them so that everything would be in perfect working order by the time his girls returned.

He sighed. They had to return.

"Of course they will return," he said aloud. Aya had been very delightfully obliging to him, but being surrounded by women who were immune to The Look and The Stance had taken its toll on him.

The General needed his Ho's, and he needed them badly. He missed their laughter, their bite, their fluorish.... Their devotion. How they smelled and how they swooned. And how they made him weak in the knees with a smile, a glance, or a hair flip. All those things about each of them that he noticed while they were oblivious to his observations, those little quirks and expressions they displayed in the most mundane of situations that endeared them to him.

He sighed and walked to the front door, his mind trying to sort out everything that had happened of late. And none of it made much sense. All he knew for certain is that he wanted everything back the way it was before the madness broke out. And he would do whatever it took to make sure that happened.

He opened the front door and found the bots and the padawannabe throwing Monopoly money at each other.

The General would start by making sure Caeryn's database was restored. "You," he said, pointing at the three of them.

"You're back!" Cal jumped up to greet the General in typical lackey fashion.

"Yes. I am."

~*~

Jael glared at the seven remaining tapes she had to endure for the Galactic Civ class. She couldn't do it. She'd go insane. And there wasn't anybody around to witness it. That certainly wouldn't be any fun. It was bad enough that she was stuck in this building with Cal and the bots. Going insane wouldn't get her anywhere but ridiculed.

And the fact that the General was partying it up elsewhere didn't help matters.

Jael climbed into bed and snuggled under the covers. The silence was nice. She only hoped she wouldn't have Gungan nightmares.

~*~

The General walked slowly down the long hallway, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to relax after a rather tiring debate with two incessant, babbling bots over the merits of recreating the database. Actually, it wasn't a debate so much as the General threatening to turn them into spare parts for the broken cars if they didn't get it done before Caeryn's return...and, no, he didn't care that the system was not yet functional, he would still turn them into spare parts if they didn't get started on it immediately.

Well, he deserved that, he supposed. After his rather...un-Jedi like behavior, there would have to be some payback, as Darry had so eloquently stated. He chuckled as he passed by the clinic...and then frowned at how dark it was.

The halls were too quiet. Even in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, he could feel them, their individual energies easily detectable to him from all ends of the building. But now they were gone, and the place truly felt empty for the very first time.

He walked up the stairs to the staff residential floor. And then he sensed something...someone. Jael. Why the hell hadn't the bots and that strange boy told him? The General picked up the pace to the end of the hall, stopping just outside her closed door. She was most definitely asleep. He didn't want to disturb her, but....

He slowly opened the door. Space Dog's head popped up with a growl, and Jael stirred slightly. He put up his hand to calm Space Dog as he stepped into the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He patted Space Dog on the head and then used a little Force influence to convince her to move off the bed and onto the floor.

Jael shifted slightly in her sleep at Space Dog's movement, rolling onto her side away from him. The General then pressed the veil of sleep a little heavier on her so as not to wake her. He lowered himself carefully to the mattress and then scooted next to Jael, bending his knees to cradle behind her own. He wrapped his arm around her waist and then relaxed against her. He buried his face in her hair and sighed happily, grateful to finally be home.