I'm Begging You

[Kurt Meyer]

Naboo
[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt stepped off of the small transport, a small bag over his shoulders and glasses over his face. He glanced back towards the ship, offering the captain a wave of thanks.

He had left Sullust two days before he and Kaile were due to start their work with the Galactic Alliance Survey Corps, leaving strict instruction with his roommate not to strain herself, not to do anything too difficult, and to stay on The Messa unless she absolutely had to leave. He had made sure to buy plenty of groceries and pay all docking fees before he'd gone, making sure everything was stocked and ready.

Kaile knew that this was something that he had to do. She knew that he couldn't go on without seeing Jamie, she was good like that and had offered no objection when Kurt told her he'd be gone for a day or two in order to see Jamie.

A sigh escaped his lips.

He'd sent Jamie a holo-message a few days before, telling her that he would be arriving on Primeday. She hadn't returned his message unfortunately, and in truth he had no idea where he would find her, but he'd seen her on the News a few days ago...so he figured the best place to start would be the Palace. Perhaps if he said her name enough and gave some small bit of personal information they would contact her for him.

"Alright Kurt." He said quietly to himself. "You flew against the First Order. You can talk to your girlfriend."

He let out a breath.

Kurt couldn't help but still think of her that way, his girlfriend. It was wrong probably, but she'd never actually said they were done.

That argument very likely hold up with...anyone at all, but in Kurt's mind it was at least a small chance, a small piece that he still had to hang onto. He frowned slightly, wandering all the way to the Palace. His glasses slowly slipped off his face, tucked into the front of his shirt as he walked up towards the front desk. "Hi there."

The woman behind the desk didn't acknowledge him.

"Hello?" Again she said nothing. "I'm here to see Jamie Pyne...She's expecting me..."

Finally the secretary looked up at him, offering Kurt a deep scowl, and then picking up the phone besides her to make a quick call.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A heated argument over the course of action taken with a prisoner by the name of Vrak Nashar had erupted in her office. The Sith was by all accounts too dangerous to let stand trial. Too dangerous to be allowed any leeway. Jamie herself had learned her lesson. He burned her on Prakith, causing the deaths of two soldiers. She again learned that lesson here, on Naboo, after having been kidnapped and tortured. Regardless of standard procedures, they had built that prison for a reason, to permanently detain terrorists and threats too great to be kept elsewhere.

It was not something used for any reason other than necessity. Vrak's imprisonment was necessary.

"I will not release him to GADF and I will not place him in the common system! He's SITH. Worse still, he is Pureblood. He will remain where he is and that is final!"

Her voice echoed down the hallway as she engaged the two magistrates just before the comm rang beside her. For half a second her eyes glanced down, considering the option to simply ignore the call and carry on with her berating the two noblemen and judges before her. Her word on the matter was not going to waiver, and she would shout until she was blue in the face. If he was freed, her life, as well as many others, would be in grave danger. She would not allow that.

"Excuse me." She said promptly, tapping her finger against the button on the device next to her. "Yes?" The woman at the front desk relayed her the message. "There's a man here, says you're expecting him?"

"I've scheduled no other meetings today. There is a mistake. Please arrange an appointment." Her mind was not on Kurt at the moment, given the circumstances, and the message saying he would arrive today slipped her. She completely forgot it was Primeday.

The secretary looked back up at Kurt, disconnecting the call with a slow shake of the head. "You'll need to schedule an appointment, I'm afraid Lady Pyne is busy at the moment."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

For a second Kurt frowned, not really sure how to respond.

In the past, when he'd been a full-time Courier, his response had usually been to flirt with Secretaries. This time however he felt like that wouldn't really work. He could probably manage it, the woman looked like she needed a little bit of love in her life...but he had changed. Plus the moment Jamie found out about it everything he was trying to accomplish here would be completely and entirely ruined. So instead he would have to try and solve this problem like a normal person.

"I do have an appointment..." He said quietly.

The Courier didn't exactly know how to put this.

"I told her I would be coming on Primeday." He told the secretary. "Today is Primeday."

For a second Kurt fumbled around in his pocket, pulling out a small communicator and starting to thumble through everything on it. The device was a bit of a mess, Kurt had never been all that good with technology. "Look I can show you the holo-mail."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Look, I'm not her mother. She tells me she doesn't have an appointment, she doesn't have an appointment. What more do you want from me?"

As Kurt forced the device in front of her face the lady tipped her glasses down, her eyes peering forward to squint at the words written on the screen. "This is her address." The woman slid her finger along the screen, reading the messages that Kurt very likely did not intend on her reading. Her eyes bulged as she hit the message about the kid. The secretary paused, pushed back the device towards Kurt, and then eyed him with fear. "You're part of the reason she's been grumpy lately? I thought it was just the abduction. You are one unfortunate man--" Her eyes fell back to the device, reading his name, "Kurt."

For a moment the woman considered paging Jamie again, but decided she wanted no part in whatever this was going on between her and the man standing in front of her, looking like a lost sheep.

"Her office is down the hall, three doors on the right after the intersection. Stay straight and you'll see her name on the wall beside it."

The woman shook her head, sliding the device back to him before returning to her own reading. "Boy are you in for a day." She said quietly, shaking her head.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Abduction?!" Kurt repeated the word with some urgency and confusion in his voice, face painted half with fear and half with concern.

The Secretary had already returned her gaze back to her work, ignoring the young Courier completely. A frown pulled at his lips and he tucked the communicator back in his pocket, making a rather weary face at her before slowly turning around and away from her. His lips thinned and he slowly turned in the direction that she had pointed in, glancing back towards her for one moment before slowly moving in the direction that Jamie's office was supposedly in.

For a second he hesitated.

What had the woman meant when she'd said he was in for a day? Was Jamie in trouble? Had something happened? Did Naboo get attacked again? He frowned for a moment and shook his head, wondering if he shouldn't just...go.

Slowly his head shook again. No. He had made a promise to come see her, and even if she was already in a bad mood, he couldn't let that stop him. A deep breath filled his lungs, he gave one last look towards the Secretary and then headed off towards Jamie's office. He followed the womans directions exactly, slowly winding his way down the hall until eventually he reached the intersection. Once there he counted three doors down and then saw the one marked with Jamie's name.

For a second Kurt just stood there, lingering at the door until he heard Jamie's voice through the door.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Kurt would hear her, along with the voices of the men inside with her, arguing still.

"He is required by law to stand trial! You cannot simply strip him of all rights because this affects you, my young delegate!"

The man's voice boomed with authority as he accused her indirectly of bias. The man was another noble, likely attempting simply to paint Jamie as some kind of tyrant.

"What part of this do you not understand, Renma? He murdered two soldiers on Prakith! He bombed the square! He abducted and tortured me! He is SITH for stars sake! He will rot in that prison for the rest of eternity if I have any say of it!"

Her tone was nearly hysterical, clearly the subject was one still of particular worry for her. The man began to say something but was immediately cut off by the blonde's continued battering. "He can manipulate minds through the Force! He is a deadly threat to all he comes in contact with! This is the only way to keep the people safe from him! I will not jeopardize my family or the citizens of this planet by risking his escape!"

"You're overstepping your bounds, child. I will discuss this matter with the other magistrates, and petition the king to override your orders."

Jamie's eyes pierced the man like a spear. "Get. Out. Of my office." The door would open to the others ushering themselves out, staring awkwardly at Kurt as they meandered down the hallway.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt stood awkwardly in the hallway, directly in front of the doors as the dignitaries streamed out of the room.

He had of course heard the argument that had been going on, Jamie and whomever else had spoken had practically been screeching at each other. He had no idea what they were talking about, but he'd heard the words 'Sith', 'abducted', and 'torture'. All of those were enough to make him go through a range of emotion from sad, to angry, and then self-loathing. A part of him almost immediately blamed himself at the idea of Jamie getting tortured, but of course that was rather silly.

Even if he'd been together with Jamie there was nothing he could do against a Sith.

Still, the more he heard the more concerned he became, his face blanching slightly until finally the screaming stopped and the door popped open. Some of the people that streamed past him didn't even look at him twice, other seemed to stare as though they recognized him. Kurt just stood there, quietly, awkwardly, waiting for all of them to walk out of the room and staying completely in place. The last man out left the door leaning open, giving Jamie a perfect view of who was standing just outside.

For a moment Kurt didn't say anything, then he gave her the tiniest wave.

"Hey." His voice very nearly cracked.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Fists curled into small balls of rage as she watched the men saunter out of her office, quietly yammering to one another under their breath. Vrak was going nowhere so long as she had a say in it. Her right hand raised, fingers stretching across her forehead, eyes closing for a brief pause. When she opened them the blue orbs caught sight of Kurt standing quietly a foot or so outside the door that had been left ajar during the magistrates departure. For a second she wondered if she was dreaming. It still hadn't dawned on her that he had told her he would be arriving on Primeday. It wasn't until she heard the familiar sound of his voice greet her did she realize what she'd forgotten.

"Kurt?" The timing couldn't have been any worse. "It's Primeday...Isn't it?" The question was rhetoric. Of course it was.

Jamie waived him in, turning to make her way back around to the other side of her desk. She needed to sit. If she thought her day had been rough before, it was about to get more complicated. "Close the door, please."

With a light thump she sat down, her hand gesturing for him to take one of the seats in the modestly sized room. A hand ran through her hair, and despite her appearance, Kurt would be able to see behind the image she presented on the surface that she was stressed, stretched to her means. A hint of a smile cast over her lips. An awkward air silently crept into the space moments later. "It's good to see you up and around." When they had separated back on Pelagon Kurt was still hospitalized. It wasn't quite her idea of a breakup, but, well, things were what they were.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt didn't sit down, he couldn't. Even if Jamie hadn't looked like she hadn't slept for three days Kurt wouldn't have been able to sit. He was too anxious, too wired. Blue circles sat under his eyes but compared to her problems the worries that he held were absolutely nothing.

”Are you okay? Kurt asked as he rounded the desk and slowly approached her. He didn’t move to touch or embrace her, though every muscle in his body wanted to.

”I...overheard…” Shed probably be mad about that, but they had been rather loud. ”Are you Safe?”

That was really the most important thing to him. Would she be okay here? Did this Sith want to hurt her still? Did his friends want to hurt her? Jamie had likely thought about all of this already but Kurt hadn't known about any of it. Panic half gripped him.

He didnt like the idea of any Sith getting near Jamie.

Not now, or ever for that matter, and if what hed heard through the door was true, then he had more than enough reason to be concerned.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She had half expected Kurt to have overheard something of the conversation, given that he was at the door for however long. Presumably a minute or two after the call from the secretary, assuming that was him there. A heavy sigh followed her hand as she rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to rid herself of the tense fibers of muscle there. Fine was a relative term, one that was hard to answer with just a simple yes or no. She was alive, so in the most general sense of the term she was fine, but this ordeal with Vrak was a much deeper issue than simply being alive or not.

"It's complicated." She finally managed to get out, looking up at Kurt with that same half smile she had on before. It was the best she could offer, the best she could hide what had all transpired since they had been apart.

Some part of her still wanted to stand up, to grab hold of him and cry in his arms. To let down the walls she had worked so hard to pull back up in his absence. "I'm safe, for now, so long as those imbeciles do not release him from where I have him held." The underwater supermax prison was the next best thing to execution, and even though Jamie wouldn't bring herself to have him killed, this was similar enough in every other way that she could maintain her morality while appropriating the right punishment.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He watched her quietly for a moment.

It was clear that she couldn’t, or wouldn’t talk about just who this Sith was, and he understood that. Some things were just above his paygrade. Sure he was still kind of in the SIS, but Kaile had told him he had little to no security clearance.

”Alright.” Kurt said quietly, nodding slightly. ”As long as you think so."

In the end that was all that mattered to Kurt.

He frowned for a moment, lingering where he stood. In truth The Courier had no idea where he would go from this point, no idea how he would start the conversation that he was looking to have a frown pulled at his lips.

”Are you...alright though? Sleeping? There was more than a little genuine concern in his voice, the way he looked at her.

Kurt just wanted her to be okay.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Some nights are harder than others. He...Did something to me. I'm still not entirely sure what or how he did it." The scar just above her knee surely hadn't forgotten though. It had lingered after the wound had healed, and had taken some time to return to normal when it came to walking. But otherwise, at least physically, she'd been okay. It was just at night, when it came to sleep, did he continue to haunt her dreams. "I sometimes have incredibly vivid dreams, but they're more like snapshots of history. Sith history."

Jamie rolled her shoulders. "I don't know. For now he's gone. Hopefully he stays that way. I'm sure in time the dreams will stop as well."

At least she could hope anyway.

"The others just seem to think that my judgement is biased because of what happened to me. They don't understand what he is though." How could they? If they knew, they would certainly share her opinion.

She knew that wasn't the reason he was here though. Their holo-mail exchanges had been rather sparse and brief since she had left Pelagon. He said he wanted to talk about everything. She hadn't had time to prepare herself for this though, not with everything else that had been going on, this unfortunately was the least pressing of matters in her life.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

”He’s a Sith.” That was really all Kurt needed to be told to say that this fellow was probably a bad person, nevermind what he had done to Jamie. The thought of anyone hurting her, and the idea of it having such a lasting effect? That stung him deeper than the cutting of a knife. He frowned for a moment.

He wanted to say something, to make it better somehow.

His hand reached out, covering hers as it laid on the armrest. ”You’ll make them understand.”

Kurt gave her hand a light squeeze then slowly drew his hand away. He didn't want to give her the wrong impression, nor did he think he could stop at just holding her hand ifhe lingered too long. A frowned pulled on his lips for just a second.

”I…” He began quietly. ”I know you can do it.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Blue eyes fell to his hand, watching him carefully for a minute. "For everybody's sake, I hope so." This was hardly just about her safety after all. The Sith had set off an explosive in the city square, killing a few and injuring many more. He was by all accounts a terrorist. Even if this hadn't directly affected her, she would still want him locked up beneath the oceans of Naboo. Her own experiences just cemented her belief that where he was, was where he blonged.

The tension in the room began to grow, she could feel it the moment he touched her. The apprehension there, the look. She bit her lip, eyes studying Kurt for a long moment.

As he drew away his hand she looked over and out of the glass window that was behind the desk she sat at. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

Best to just get straight to the point than to dance around the whole thing in awkward conversation and gestures.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

For a second Kurt didnt say anything. He wasnt sure what to say. His lips thinned and not for the first time he felt like he wouldve rather been a turtle retreating into its shell.

”I…” It was probably better to get it all out in the open right now, but he found the idea of that to be a bit much.

”Do you want to go somewhere else?” Kurt asked quietly. ”I don't want you to see this as more work.”

Somehow he'd pictured this going much better.

That had probably just been wishful thinking, but he still wanted Jamie to get up from that chair and just put herself into his arms.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Her eyes never wandered from the window, considering what he asked. Regardless of whether or not Kurt wanted Jamie to see whatever this discussion was, and she could somewhat guess what it was about, judging by his holo-mail, she was going to see it in some way as work. Definitely at least a soon to be headache. She knew he wanted to talk about their relationship, Kaile's baby, Pelagon, the whole shebang. It was a conversation she had managed to stave off for a while, one that she had help to put behind her with Aela back on Vineta.

The thought of returning to this bitter place she found herself in not too long ago was already taxing on her mind.

Add on top of it the things that had happened lately? And this was just one conversation she was not eager to have.

Though perhaps leaving would be beneficial for them both. Jamie didn't need any dirty laundry airing inside the palace walls, disturbing others. "Okay. I suppose I can take a quick walk."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He offered her a small smile.

Jamie slowly stood from her place, rising out of the chair as she squeezed past Kurt and lead the way out of the office. Kurt followed along, not too far from her side but also not too close. He was well aware of her hand just at her side, and he gave it a longing glance as they moved through the hall he had come through.

The secretary glanced up as Jamie and Kurt walked past her, staring at the two of them.

Kurt offered the woman a deep frown, but of course didn't say anything to her. Instead he moved right along with Jamie, stepping outside the palace and onto a nice outdoor walkway that seemed to streth along the cliffs of Theed. In the distance he could hear the roar of falling water, his lips thinning as they moved away from the palace.

"I wanted..." Kurt began quietly. "I came here to talk about us."

He didn't know how else to start. A part of him thought he shouldn't at all given what shed been through, but he figured it was better to talk than to just leave it all hanging in the air.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The air was comfortable outside, more so even than in the palace. Naboo had a serene atmosphere to it, even on its' darkest days. It was a small comfort that she often missed when off world. No other place in the galaxy seemed to have this effect on her. It was something to be cherished, and never taken for granted. Often times she wondered if anyone else had that feeling, whether it be of Naboo, or their own home. Perhaps everyone had that feeling, simply biased towards their place of birth, but Jamie liked to think Naboo was special in that way.

"I figured." She spoke softly, waiving to a familiar face as they walked to the outer limits of the palace, towards the less traveled area of the grounds near the bluffs. A massive series of jagged cliffs overlooked several waterfalls, all of which pooled together in a hazy mist hundreds of feet below. Everything she had wanted to say had been laid out on Pelagon though, so Jamie was at a bit of a loss as to what Kurt could really be getting at, save for perhaps the point of Kaile's baby not being his. Though would that really matter at this point? After everything was said and done? The whole situation was enough to make her head spin.

"What exactly about us did you want to talk about?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

He frowned for a moment. "I...don't know."

How in the hell had he gotten here.

His plan had simply been to tell her everything. Convince her to be with him and just live...but how would he achieve that? She wasn't just going to drop this, and she eas most certainly not just going to change her mind about everything that had happened.

"Kaile's child isnt mine." She would see the truth in his expression, in thr pleading of his voice. "You said that was the chance, the one chance we had."

His lips thinned. "I...just want that. Us. You and me."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

In truth when she had said that it was both out of frustration and the disbelief that there was any chance at all that this child was not in fact, his. The fact that it turned out to actually be true threw her off balance a bit. In her own mind she had reconciled that things were more or less over, had treated them that way when she talked to Aela, and in some way already begun to move on with her life. Now everything was up in the air again, and that same confusion that she felt back on Pelagon began to creep back into her head.

It stopped her legs from carrying her any further.

"That doesn't mean everything just falls away and goes back to normal, Kurt."

A chance was exactly that, a chance.

"I can't just snap my fingers and make everything better by wishing it."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]