Finding Jess (First Wave)

by Mikayla Lane

Chapter Thirteen

  Jess sat down heavily onto the bench of the picnic table across from Maggie and let out a sigh of relief. The last few days had been much more physically draining than she’d ever expected. Since that first night with Amun, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off of one, another and the additional activity was taking its toll on her new legs.

  She smiled at the memory of how much of an effort it took to make love against the wall. Even if Amun had born most of the weight, it had still taken much more muscle strength than she’d expected to participate. However, it was so worth it! Everything they had done together the last few days had been more than worth the pain she is in right now. The deep soreness making her bones ache with every breath couldn’t begin to penetrate the bubble of happiness she felt.

  “Are you ok?” Jess brought herself out of her thoughts at the feel of Maggie’s hand on her own and her concerned question.

  “Yeah, I’m ok.” Jess lied, unsure how to talk to Maggie about what had been going on with Amun the last few days.

  “I know you’re lying. You look like you’re in pain. Is it female from your recent activities or elsewhere?” Maggie cut right to the chase, already in her doctor mode the moment she noticed that Jess wasn’t walking right.

  “Maggie! Shhh… everyone doesn’t need to hear you!” Jess blushed deeply at Maggie’s question and looked around to make sure none of the women or children at the playground had heard.

  “No one can hear me. Now tell me what’s wrong.” Maggie insisted pulling out the scanner that Amun had given her.

  “Put that thing away or someone will think I’m hurt!” Jess warned looking around again to make sure no one was paying attention.

  She watched a couple of the other women, including Sarex engrossed with chasing the kids around the playground, and through the tubes while Tarvok stood off to the side throwing frustrated glances at Maggie. Jess couldn’t help but laugh at his obvious discomfort.

  “I see you’re still keeping Tarvok at arm's distance.”

  “Don’t get me started on that man! Now tell me what’s wrong, so we can get it fixed before Amun finds out.” Maggie said to distract Jess from talking about that odious jerk. She did not want to waste her thoughts on him, even though he was all she ever thought about.

  Jess was a little surprised at how observant Maggie was. Knowing Amun he’d stop touching her, stop loving her like he was in order to help her heal and prevent her from hurting. She didn’t know how to tell him that every moment they’d spent together in the last few days had done more to heal her inside than anything else ever could. For the first time in her life, she had hope for the future, for a future with him and Lily.

  “My legs are hurting really bad. I think it’s just the extra… activity. But it’s getting hard to walk with the pain.” Jess whispered so quietly that Maggie almost didn’t hear her.

  “Honey, I’m surprised you can walk at all. Oh damn, I said that out loud didn’t I? I’m sorry. With the heat coming off you two for the last three days, there isn’t a person here that doesn’t know how much your relationship with Amun has changed. And you shouldn’t be embarrassed either; everyone is truly happy for you Jess. You deserve this, and he’s a good man; we couldn’t have picked a better one for you.”

  Maggie smiled at Jess as the younger woman blushed in varying shades of red. While she was distracted with her embarrassment, Maggie went ahead and quickly scanned her body to find the problem with her legs.

  “You have some deep bruising, which is what I’m sure you were thinking it was.” Maggie went ahead and programmed the correct medications into the medibands Amun insisted Jess keep around her wrists until her organs were fully assimilated, and rejection was no longer a danger.

  “Thank you Maggie, I feel better already.” Jess said with a relieved sigh as her muscles relaxed and began repairing themselves rapidly. She smiled as she thought that now Amun would never have to know that she’d ever been in pain at all.

  “So other than your legs, are you doing ok?” Maggie asked with genuine concern. With everything Jess had been through, she, and Cari was more than a little worried about how well she’d be able to handle intimacy.

  “I’m doing wonderful and I couldn’t be happier. It all seems so unreal though, like it’s all a dream, and I get afraid sometimes that I’ll wake up and be back there in that camp again. I know it’s stupid to think that.” Jess was a little embarrassed and tried to hide the fact that she hadn’t intended to say so much.

  “Honey, I would be surprised if you didn’t have thoughts like that. Anyone would that had been through what you have. You have to give yourself some time to adjust and heal and not just on the outside; it’s only been a few months. Every time you have those thoughts, try to think about Amun and Lily, and how much they love you.”

  Since Maggie and Tarvok were helping them choose the adoptive parents for the children Jess and Amun had gone to them first to ask about adopting Lily. Luckily, they’d been able to put their personal animosity towards each other aside long enough to agree that Lily would be best placed with Jess and Amun. Maggie sent another scathing glare at the infuriating man before reaching out to give Jess’ hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “I know I’m being stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Jess hated the way she sounded so weak and pathetic for complaining.

  He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss, then took out his own scanner and began redoing the scans to assure himself that she was alright.

  “Don’t bother blaming Tarvok. I had all scanners programmed to let me know the moment Jess’s cell signature came up, so I’d know where and how she was injured. He never said a word to me Maggie.” Amun knew by the angry look she’d thrown at Tarvok that she’d blame him for telling Amun that Jess was hurt. She was already giving the poor man a hard enough time from what he could see, and he wasn’t going to let her use this as an excuse to build more walls between them.

  “Amun, I’m fine. I feel much better already. There’s no need for you to worry so much. Did you get a chance to talk to the High Councilor?” Jess hoped that Amun had talked to Ivint before running down here to her; the man was always in meetings of some kind and was rarely seen.

  “We don’t need a party…” Jess really didn’t want so much attention. She still had a hard time being in a crowd of people; even the other women overwhelmed her sometimes. In her mind, she knew that they cared for her very much, but she couldn’t help but feel a deep embarrassment that they all knew what had happened to her. And being around so many people made her feel too crowded, the constant touching and hugs… Maggie was right she still needed to heal. On the inside. Maybe a party is what she needed to face some of her fears head on.

  “We’re having a party? Really? When? What for?” Jess smiled; she should have expected Lily to hear the word party.

  “Amun and Jess are getting… married. So we’re going to celebrate that.” Maggie told the little girl as she scooped her up into her lap for a cuddle.

  “Really?” Lily asked Amun and Jess; her expression giving them no clue about how she felt about the news.

  “Yes it’s true. We will be getting married at the end of the week. What do you think about that?” Amun hugged Jess to him as he waited anxiously for Lily’s response. It was important to, he and Jess that Lily accepted them as a couple since they hoped to adopt her now that Ivint and Banatar have given their blessing.

  “I think it’s about time!” Lily jumped up and gave a quick hug to Jess and Amun before running back to the playground screaming, “Amun and Jess are getting married, and we’re going to have a party!!!"

  Within moments, they were surrounded by children and adults alike with questions being thrown at them so fast they couldn’t keep up with them. At the sound of Tarvok’s sharp whistle everyone in the room immediately quieted and looked at him curiously, while Maggie gave him her best glare.

  “How about everyone ask your questions one at a time so tha
t they can answer?” He suggested and immediately Lily raised her hand.

  The moment Tarvok nodded at her to ask her question Lily said quickly, “When are you getting married? Can I have a new dress for it?” The other little girls immediately started asking for new dresses too. Amun held up his hand while Tarvok whistled to calm everyone down again.

  “We’re getting married this Saturday in the dining hall. The party will begin right after that. Yes, everyone can have a new dress. Maggie, Jess, Tarvok and I will make sure you are all dressed and ready and will take you to the dining hall with us.” Amun stated thinking that would have answered all of their questions. He was so wrong.

  “But its bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day.”

  “Who will help Jess get ready?”

  “Can I be a flower girl?”

  “Can we stay up late?”

  “Can we have pizza?”

  Amun and Tarvok exchanged frustrated looks while Jess, Maggie and the other women just laughed at the children.

  “How about we talk to the kids while you, and Tarvok take Justin for a walk?” Sarex suggested to the relief of Justin and the men.

  “Let’s go little man!” Tarvok grabbed Justin’s outstretched hand and pulled him up and out of the crowd of children and into his arms. He didn’t miss Maggie’s heated looks at his body as he did it either. He was barely able to keep the smile from his face until he turned his back to leave the room. He turned back around before he reached the door and caught her staring at his backside as he walked away.

  The smile broke out on his face again before he could stop it, and he laughed as Maggie turned a deep red and turned her face away.

  “You do realize that you are only encouraging her to dislike you and keep you away?” Amun asked him, shaking his head at his friend’s actions.

  “Risk told me that on this world, the women play a courtship game called ‘hard to get’. They pretend like they don’t like you so that they can make you act like an idiot to win their hearts. He said the only way to avoid that is to reverse it on them. The longer you irritate them and pretend like you don’t care that they pretend not to like you, the more they want you.” Tarvok said confidently as he led the way to the dining hall.

  “What? That makes no sense at all. You realize that I never had to do anything like that to win Jess? And I can assure you that Scaden didn’t have that problem with Cari either. What makes you think that she’s playing this game?” Amun asked, stunned that a man so smart would actually believe something that ridiculous.

  “Because she’s still angry that I didn’t tell her that I thought she was my mate right away. And we both know that is nothing to be mad about, so she must be playing this courting game.”

  Amun thought he had a really good point; protecting your mate was a warrior’s duty, she couldn’t be angry over his duty. He shook his head at what a stupid game she must be playing and knew that this wasn’t going to go smoothly at all for either of them.

  *****

  “We need to plan a proper ceremony. We can’t have all of our traditions being brushed aside for the Valendran ones. Some of us have always dreamed of wearing a white gown and walking down the aisle.” Maggie protested when the odious jerk finally left the room. She hated that he’d caught her staring at him as he left; all it did was expand his already over large ego.

  “The man being in awe of your beauty as, he sees you for the first time in your gown, with your hair and make-up perfectly done is too priceless to skip honey.” Sarex said with a sigh, as if she’d also thought about it before.

  “I never really thought about it so it doesn’t bother me at all.” Jess told the two women honestly. Other than old fairy tales, her mother used to tell her when she was little, Jess had never really heard about marriage before she was rescued and certainly never considered it ever happening to her until Amun had asked her officially to join with him. He didn’t want them to be like Scaden and Cari, who still hadn’t found the time to be formally joined in the Valendran tradition, which he had discovered was much like the earth traditions.

  The only reason she cared about the ceremony at all was because it was necessary to ensure she and Amun could adopt Lily, and because it meant a lot to Amun. She knew she loved Amun, and he loved her, which was enough for her. She didn’t even know what their ceremony entailed.

  “You mean you’re going to ruin this for us girls and not let us dress you up and surprise Amun?” Maggie teased.

  “Of course not, but we’re really limited on our options aren’t we?” Jess said with a shrug hoping that would discourage them while Maggie and Sarex shared a smile over Jess’s head.

  “You’ll be amazed at what we can pull off.” Sarex told her confidently as she typed something in on her comm.

  The women went back to answer the many questions the children had until the door flew open and in walked a line of women led by True whose arms were overflowing with fabric. Each of the women had something in their arms as they came over to the picnic table.

  “What is this?” Jess asked True curiously as she looked at the smiling faces of the women around them.

  “We figured that it was time for a fairytale to come true for you. So we’re going to find you the perfect dress to wear and do your hair and make-up. Just think of us as your fairy godmothers.” True said with a wide smile as the other women nodded their heads.

  “Really, you guys don’t have to do this. I don’t need all this.” Jess tried to protest before she was interrupted.

  “You may not need it, but you deserve it. Besides, we’d love the excuse to act like women for once instead of warriors.” True said with a nonchalant shrug that wasn’t fooling anyone. She was obviously just as excited as everyone else.

  “Ok… ok. I give up. Let’s see what we can come up with.” Jess couldn’t help but smile as the women and children erupted into squeals and shouts of excitement. It was worth giving in to see them all so happy.

  It was her last thought before she was caught up in the rapid-fire chatter of the women as True grabbed her and began holding dresses up to her. She barely had time to glance down at the dress being held before the women were giving their reasons why the dress was a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’.

  *****

  Hours later, after the compound had gone to sleep, Jax was still in the conference room going over the plan in her head and making some adjustments based on what the girls had said their plans were for the wedding party. She shook her head wondering when a party had turned into a wedding/party.

  Timing was going to be so crucial that she was going to have to make adjustments daily to ensure that everything would be executed perfectly. Including the surprises, she had in store for even the Valendran team.

  She turned quickly, gun drawn when she heard a noise at the door she’d left partially open. She relaxed immediately when she saw who entered.

  “Tell me my friend, what have you learned? Will he be ready? Did you explain that we’ll have to fine-tune the timing up to the last moment to ensure success?” She asked.

  Gibly jumped up onto the conference room table, walked over to where Jax was standing and rubbed up against her in greeting before answering.

  “Yes he understands and will be waiting for your instructions.” Gibly responded. His ability to speak like the humans was improving the more he communicated in their language. He didn’t understand why they had to have so many different words and so many different meanings. Things were much simpler in his native language.

  “We can’t have anything go wrong on this Gibly. Are you sure he’ll be able to handle what we ask of him? He is broken. What we ask could be too much.” Jax voiced her fears over using him, but in order to pull this off his participation was required.

  Jax had only met him a few times after she had caught Gibly meeting with him secretly. It had been more than obvious to her that his mind was damaged, but he was highly functioning, hiding his personal demons and pain behind a stoic mask o
f indifference. She could well understand what he was going through and how easy it was to convince others you were fine when you weren’t. However, you couldn’t escape the nightmares that came and crippled your soul… she knew that all too well.

  “He needs this in order to help him heal. He has lost purpose; this will give him new one. Seeing pain of others will help him release his own. And I will be with him.” Gibly said confidently; his faith in the man absolute. He was in his nightmares; he knew what the man was capable of.

  Jax sat down with a sigh and patted her lap. When Gibly settled himself in her lap, she began absently stroking his fur while deep in thought. The plan she’d come up with playing out in her head from start to finish, her mind coming up with potential problems that could occur and how to prevent them.

  “Your plan is good; it will work. You need to relax and worry less. You are too much under stress.” Gibly mumbled enjoying the feel of her hands rubbing gently through his fur. He really enjoyed this human so much more than any of the others besides his Amia and Tessa. She thought as he did. As did the man Jax was so worried about.

  “He is perfect for this. I know for fact.”

  “I think so too Gibly; but it doesn’t stop me from worrying. There is far too much room for error. We will never get a chance like this again.” Jax said honestly to him while she continued to stroke his soft fur. His rumbling purr vibrated loudly through her, calming her strained nerves.

  “It will be perfect. No one suspect a thing. Only the three of us know.” Gibly replied in a soft satisfied voice. His human knew just where and how he loved to be petted.

  He was just about to doze off when a slight sound had him sitting bolt upright and jumping onto the table facing the door. Jax immediately stood up and faced the door, gun again in her hand. No one should be in the command area right now, including her and Gibly.

  She waited in silence as the far-off footsteps drew closer and didn’t relax the grip on her weapon when she saw Reven come into the room.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Reven quickly took in the scene in the conference room; Jax was standing at the head of the conference room table, her rigid pose and weapon drawn in her tight grip. Gibly stood protectively in front of her; teeth bared as if ready to launch himself at him at any moment.