Miss Me?

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

“Hey hey hey!” Kurt said as Jamie half ripped his arm off, practically dragging him outside and then out there door.

“What’s the matter?” He asked as they reached the speeder. The concern on Jamie’s face was evident, though why it was there was a complete mystery to Kurt. Had she heard something upsetting in the words the Captain said? Did the idea that Kurt might be leaving eventually get to her? He didn’t know. “Why’d we run out of there?”

He gave her a worrying look.

Something was clearly up with her, though he had no idea what.

For the moment Kurt didn’t concern himself with the ship, or the speeder, instead he simply reached an arm around Jamie and half pulled her close. It was very clear that something was upsetting her...he just had to figure out what.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde spun around to face Kurt as he pulled on her to stop her from nearly running off.

"That woman, Jesslyn? And her husband Jarek? They're close with my father. I know them. She used to accompany him on trips abroad when my mother could not. But only after Jarek died. I was still really young."

Her hand lifted to rub her eyes with her thumb and index finger. She was confused about what was going on. It made no sense.

"That crest I recognized in that hidden room? That's their family symbol. That is her room. Why!?"

Her hands raised and fell again. "I need to know what that room was for. I need to find out from him if there's more going on here."

Jamie continued towards the bike, intent on getting back home rather immediately.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Surprise showed on his face, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the connection that Jamie was making in her mind. The crest was familiar to her, the woman apparently used to hang around with her father, and the room that they had found...well it was all pretty circumstantial, but even Kurt could see what Jamie was thinking.

“Honey.” Kurt said as he half caught her.

It was very clear that she was in her more...confrontational mood, and that could mean yelling, screaming, hell it could mean Theed was about to burn. That was something Kurt needed to stop, if only so that Jamie didn’t leave Naboo worse off then she had come.

“Listen.” He said as he held her for half a moment. “We’ll go back, ask your father, tell him what we know and have him fill in the blanks, okay?”

The Courier tried to be as reasonable as possible. “But we have to do it calmly, otherwise we’ll only get half the story.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's hands and face trembled as she looked at Kurt, trying so very hard not to let her sudden surge of emotion take the better of her. This was none of Kurt's doing after all, but this was a very serious matter to her. There was only one thing running through her mind right now, and that was very simply "What were they doing together Kurt? What is that room for!?" Not once had she ever thought to question her father's whereabouts, his faithfulness to his family, or his character. Suddenly, with one brief discussion with Starport authority that was all coming unraveled at the seams.

"I need to know what is going on. We need to go home, now. Please take me home Kurt."

She was struggling to hold back the tears of anger that her voice portrayed. The cheery, bubbly girl was completely gone, torn away and replaced with a foreboding and dread filled one.

Filling in the blanks is what I'm afraid of.

"Let's just go." She said, climbing onto the back of the bike.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

“Okay, Honey.” He pulled her close for half a second then sweetly planted a kiss on her forehead. His fingers squeezed hers for a moment, letting her know that he was there for...whatever reason.

Kurt wasn’t entirely sure what else he could do, especially since....well he was still very much an outsider here.

The best that he could think of was to do as Jamie had asked him to do, to take her home and be there when she asked her father what was going on. The situation likely wasn’t going to be a very good one, and Kurt’s more...cynical side told him that the day would not be ending well, but at the very least he could try and be there for Jamie.

She’d be there for him after all.

He followed her onto the bike after a moment of simply lingering where they had stood, thinking about how if at all he could fix this. He frowned for a moment, then turned the key in the ignition. The bike jumped to live, and with half a moment Kurt sent them rocketing towards Jamie’s house.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie kept quiet throughout the entire ride back, offering direction only if and when Kurt asked. The rest of the time was spent quietly brewing in her own mind just what could have possibly been going on.

Maybe he wasn't aware at all. Maybe he was. Maybe he had an affair. Maybe this was just some kind of discreet side-work she did for whatever reason. If this was an affair, is it still going on? When did it start? End?

There were quite literally hundreds of questions she asked herself in the twenty or so minutes it took to return home. Though as they drew nearer and nearer to the estate her stomach began to turn upside down. She had always felt closest to her father. This feeling was something akin to betrayal in her eyes. What would her mother think of all this? She was crazy enough as it were. If this was in fact some kind of secretive affair of his, would she leave him? She hated the idea that her family could be torn apart in a matter of minutes, and she would feel partly responsible.

When they finally reached the house Jamie sat quietly on the bike for several minutes, unsure of what to do. Maybe it would be best to just forget the whole thing, pretend like it never happened.

But then the feeling of never knowing the truth would just continue to haunt her.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt didn’t try to push her in one direction or another.

When they got there he almost immediately hopped off the bike, though he said nothing to Jamie as he did so. Instead he simply stood besides her, quietly setting a hand on her thigh as if a reminder that he was still there for her.

This moment was difficult for her, he knew that.

Her family meant quite a bit to Jamie, and their status within the society of Naboo meant just as much. Their earlier conversation are about certain photos had proven that much, and now that this, or rather the idea of it had come out? He could see the worry etched on her face.

There was no right thing to say here, no right thing for him to try to console her with.

His hand slipped around hers, thumb gently caressing her skin. For all he cared they could spend a month and a half out here, there was no need to rush.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

There was a lot of lingering, deep breathing, and closed eyes going on. She had to think about what to say before confronting her father, what she would do, whether or not to involve her mother or do this quietly. There was a noticeable tremble in her body. Her head was held low, her golden hair obscuring her face like a wall of curtains. She wasn't crying, but her face was glowing red with anxiety and anger. Everything she felt she knew was being torn away, the reality of the world now facing her that things were anything but perfect with an occasional bump. It seemed as though for every step forward in her life, she was pushed two back.

Her free hand brushed away the strands of hair that fell over her eyes behind her ears, and looked at Kurt. Her face looked utterly defeated, as if she knew the worst was coming, like standing in front of a freighter, unable to move.

"Come on. Let's get this over with."

She neither held his hand, nor pulled away from his hold on her. Instead she simply walked from the bike to the side door they had left from earlier, pushing it open.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Okay." He held onto her, even if she didn't return the favor. This wasn't exactly a situation that Kurt would want to walk into alone either, especially considering just how much all of this mattered to Jamie. He frowned for a moment, following along beside her until they reached the door. Again they didn't knock or ring any sort of doorbell, but instead simply twisted the handle and stepped inside.

The inside of the manor still startled him a bit, a piece of him still wanting to turn around and simply run away.

This time it wasn't for himself however, this time he didn't want to run to make the situation less of a hassle for just him. He wanted to take Jamie away, away from all the drama, from the dread she was feeling. He wanted her to be that happy, smiling, bubbly girl that he had been with when they first came to Spira. He wanted the wounds on his back forgotten, the camera they had lost back, and everything else returned. If he could have that...well he wouldn't want anything else.

It didn't take long for them to find Jamie's parents, both of them sitting in the living room where they had left Jamie's father.

When they reached them Kurt finally let her go, allowing her to step ahead of him just slightly.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie stopped in her tracks at the archway leading into the room. Her parents had their backs turned away from the entrance, so they hadn't noticed the two standing just a few feet away. Frozen in place, she had to quickly decide how to handle this situation. Was she going to blow up? Just start talking? Ask her father to leave the room to talk to her? There was hardly a good way to go about this whole situation, but ultimately she decided that the temperament of her mother was not necessary on top of the stress and anxiety she was already feeling. Besides, if she was there, he might not divulge the truth. With just Jamie around, there was a chance he wouldn't like to her. More so anyway than he already had, if he had.

"Father. I must speak with you immediately, if I may." She finally said. The heads of both Torlen and Melinda turning to face the girl and her boyfriend. "What is it, darling?" He asked. She nearly cringed.

Her head tilted to the side, gesturing out of the room.

"Elsewhere, please. Alone." He stood slowly, a look of concern on his face. "Of course, of course." He lead the the way out of the room and up the stairs to the large, expansive study. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

Jamie said nothing, she simply followed him to the top of the stairs and closed the massive wood carved door behind them. One could easily see now the pain in her eyes as she composed her thoughts.

Here goes.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt didn't follow.

He wasn't sure if he was supposed to, and in the end it was probably a better bet that he stay down here. There would be a time when he was to be included, probably when Jamie came back downstairs. In truth he had absolutely no idea what was about to happen, though he guessed that it likely wasn't to be pleasant. For his own right The Courier managed to stay surprisingly calm under the scrutiny of Jamie's mother, the woman staring at him with an almost suspicious gaze.

Kurt offered the woman a small smile and wave.

Part of him wanted to burst out into laughter, but that was mostly just the awkwardness of the moment.

Instead he kept himself focused, eyes wandering around the room as he looked at everything he could. There were some very interesting art pieces, some that he even recognized. One was from Tatooine, more specifically a Tusken tribe. He would have to remember to ask about it.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Are you going to explain to me now what this is all ab--" Jamie held up her finger, a sharpness to her eyes that was entirely unlike her.

"Jesslyn. Underhill." She said the two names harshly, slowly.

Her eyes studied her fathers for any sign of shifting, any kind of tell that would give him away.

"Tell. Me. The. Truth." Her father opened his mouth, as if about to speak, a confused look on his face which Jamie quickly interrupted.

"Do not lie to me. Did you, or did you not, have an affair with this woman? I fully intend to find out myself, if it looks to me that you're lying. You're lucky I didn't decide to drop this downstairs."

Torlen looked for and found the nearest chair, dropping into it with a thud. His eyes looked deep into his daughters. He recognized a pain there that was nothing he'd ever seen before. Jamie had never once seen her father cry, never once had she seen a sign of weakness in him. To see him suddenly so vulnerable was odd to her, but that was almost all of the confirmation she'd need. Words needn't explain his guilt. His expression alone was far more than anything she'd need to hear.

"Yes. It was years ago. You were seven when it happened. We were both on a humanitarian trip. It had been months since I last saw your mother. We had been going through rough times. Jesslyn and I, we got a little drunk and let our guard down. The next thing we knew, we woke up in bed together. It was only once, one time. We swore to each other that it would never happen again and we distanced ourselves from one another after that."

Jamie's eyes filled with water. The man she'd looked up to, the one she thought would never lie, the man she thought was the most honorable and honest person she knew, the one person she could always rely on. He'd lied to her for eleven years. Lied to her mother. Lied to his family. Lied to himself. How he kept that under wraps this whole time, burying it, she would never understand.

"How could you?" That wasn't meant to be a question. It was rhetorical. She knew how he did it. She just felt like she had to say it. "Why would you?"

"Jamie...I...." He hesitated. He must have figured it was time to simply lay the cards on the table. "You have a half sister."

"WHAT!?" She shouted loud enough that anyone in a mile radius could likely hear her.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt looked up towards the room.

"Sounds like somethings going on up there." He said quietly, then slowly looked towards Jamie's mother who was busy staring a hole into his face. "Yeah."

Kurt continued to look up at the ceiling.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

Jamie nearly fell to the floor. She didn't mishear her father. She simply wanted to hear him say it again.

"Mariya, she is your half sister."

That would make this girl, right now, about 10 years old. "Mariya Underhill is my half sister? How do you know this?"

Her breathing was so labored at this point that she was sweating on her forehead and neck. "We had a paternity test done to be certain. She wanted to raise it alone, to keep it a secret. I didn't object."

So both of them were in on this!?

"And you didn't plan on ever telling me? Or mother? Or that poor little girl that the father she thinks is dead, isn't actually dead!?"

Oh how she wanted to slap him across his big, stupid face!

"Perhaps some day in the distant future. But no, we wanted to keep our lives, all of our lives in tact, the way they were. Happy."

She wanted oh so badly to hate him right then, to tear every family portrait up, to burn their history and forget everything and leave Naboo. she wanted nothing to do with anything. Hands pulled violently at blonde locks of hair as she screamed in frustration. She couldn't hate him. No matter what he'd done, the lies he kept, he raised her well. He gave her the things she needed. It was just all behind a mask, a mask that hid the truth. It made her feel almost dead inside, as if a part of her soul had been lost.

"You need to tell mother of this. If you don't I will. You need to tell that little girl she has a father. You need to be her father! She doesn't deserve to face the consequences of your indiscretion."

She pulled on the handle of the door and swung it open, letting it slam against the wall. "I am going to be a sister to that little girl. So you better get your shet together!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt stayed quiet, there were a few more yells, these ones more muffled then the other. "So..."

The Courier began as he looked at Jamie's mother, the woman kind of reminding him of some of the grouchier Hutts that he had met. They weren't all bad creatures of course, just very...egotistical. As long as you told them they were the greatest things in the room Hutt's weren't really all that bad, some of them could be down right nice. Maybe this woman was the same way? There wasn't really a way to tell, not right now anyway, but he could at least ask.

"I can see where Jamie got her good looks from Mrs. Pyne." That would get her.

The woman however just stared, much like a raging Krayt Dragon.

Kurt began to shift a little under the scrutiny of her eye, feeling himself eek away a bit. He wished that Jamie had taken him wit-Another rather loud yell resounded from upstairs followed by the slamming of a door. He flinched slightly, and got rid of the thought he just had, eyes darting up towards the stairs. He could see Jamie stomping forward, eyes filled with rage, bodylanguage saying that she was more then ready to kill.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl stormed down the staircase faster than that Manka Cat had attacked the two back on Spira. Her eyes were red, bloodshot even. There was water present on both her cheeks, a bit of makeup seemingly beginning to run. Should have worn the waterproofs. Before she even reached the bottom of the stares Kurt could tell just how well that conversation had gone. She made sure to cover her face well enough with her hair so that her mother couldn't get a very good look as she hit the last step.

"We're leaving, Kurt. Now." Without even another word the girl headed straight for the door they'd come in. "Good-bye mother. Be well."

There was not a moment of pause. Jamie yanked the door open without a single thought to holding onto it, letting it bash against the wall like she had the door upstairs, stepping outside to the main courtyard. Her hands were already dialing in a taxi to pick them up. She was going to the starport. Naboo had just lost all appeal to her for the time being.

"Trip's over!" She shouted as she continued walking, her feet noticeably louder with each stomp.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Nice meeting you, Ma'am." Was the last thing Kurt said as she rushed out after Jamie. There was no way in hell he'd be left behind here after whatever the hell just happened. He quickly dashed after his girlfriend, giving Jamie's mother one last look as he pulled open the front door and then slipped outside.

His eyes darted around for a moment, spotting Jamie already halfway up the road.

"Force." Kurt asked himself. "The kark happened?"

Without further hesitation Kurt rushed after Jamie, stopping for half a second at the speeder bike to grab the box Jamie had stored there earlier. Luckily for him she wasn't sprinting or anything, and so he was able to catch up to her relatively quickly. Her feet seemed to be digging into the cobblestone road with how hard she set herself down on the road. Her rage very nearly permeated the air, her fingers crimped against the communicator, her eyes set hard forward, her lips turned into a fierce enough scowl that he thought she might bite his head off if she spoke.

"Babe? What happened?" He asked, though he probably shouldn't have.

His hand reached out towards her, not grabbing her, but just gently touching her arm.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

There were a million things she wanted to say, a million things she could say. Unfortunately she couldn't get them all out at once, and her heart rate was racing so quickly that she could almost feel like she were back on Spira, rushing Kurt to the hospital after he'd been injured. Instead, all she managed to get out was an ear piercing scream, her hands violently raising and tugging at her hair before she released the innocent locks of hair, luckily without tearing them from the scalp.

"MEN ARE KARKING ANIMALS" She screamed as loud as she could. That was an unfair statement, especially given Kurt's presence, but right now was hardly the moment for her to hold back her feelings of betrayal, anger, sadness, and a slew of other emotions she couldn't totally recognize due to being mashed together like a trash compactor.

"HE DID IT. HE ADMITTED IT. HE SLEPT WITH HER!" That was hardly even the worst of it. "HE HAS ANOTHER DAUGHTER. WITH THAT WOMAN! THAT POOR GIRL DOESN'T EVEN KNOW!"

Finally it came, the real tears, the uncontrolled breathing and the hyperventilating. She stopped, her hands cupping her face, her emotions running free. In between heavy, stuttered breaths she tried to speak.

"They know Mariya ... is my sister... They planned ... to keep it ... a secret. That girl was going to grow ... up with .. no father, yet he would be right ... there. I would ... have never ... known she was my ... sibling. He would have lied to us until ... the day he died. We may have ... never known. I can't ... believe he ... would do that ... to me, to her ... to everyone. I ... thought ... he ... cared ... about his ... family, but he's just ... like my mother. He cares about ... his image more ... than his ... family."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He'd suspected that was the case...at least partially. The idea that Jamie had a sister? That part he hadn't exactly seen coming. For a moment he was rather taken aback, her rather loud scream being pushed right into his face. A part of him couldn't even really disagree with the sentiment given the kind of person he'd been just a few months ago...but it still hurt a little bit to hear her say. The Courier frowned slightly, but he didn't step away from her.

His hands moved forward, gently clasping her arms.

Kurt pulled her close to him, grasping her with a soft touch so that she had something to lean on, to hold herself up. There was nothing he could say right now to make the situation better, nothing that would console her or fix the problem that she was now faced with. The dumber side of him wanted to tell her that it would be okay, that they would figure it out...but right now, there was nothing to figure out.

Jamie had to process all of this, she had to figure it out.

But she certainly didn't have to do it alone.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Turning, her hands wrapped tightly around Kurt's neck, eyes like waterfalls tucking into his neck while she sobbed uncontrollably, drops of water running down her cheeks and onto his neck and shirt. She said nothing. There was nothing left to say really. She just wanted to find a hole to crawl in and disappear. It felt like everything she thought was real was suddenly taken away, stripping her of any innocence in the galaxy she may have had. She couldn't hate this little girl for what their father and her mother had done. It wasn't her fault. In a way it was the only bright light in the entire equation. The only thing she had to smile about was that she had a sister. That didn't fix the now broken home she'd left, but it was something.

Jamie stood crying in Kurt's arms for several minutes more, unable to find any more words to express herself with. She simply lingered there.

It wouldn't take too long for the taxi to arrive, perhaps ten minutes. Premium prices came with premium service after all.

"I just want to leave. I feel sick."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]