1/2!
Even something as simple as a hug was another little point proven - another little thing that said see, I’m right, because if he weren’t different now, if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t let her hug him; he wouldn’t hug her back like this.
She felt safe with him, too, especially like this, with his arms around her - but in a weird sort of way, because she still knew he was dangerous, far more powerful than she was, or any of her family or any Force-talented being she’d ever met. It was like being wrapped up in lightning, or standing in the eye of a storm, the center of a tornado. By any logic, he should have treated her like he did any other humans - at best, with disdain and amusement, at worst doing some kind of creative smiting - something like dropping her into a volcano or having her be attacked by wombats, or something equally bizarre and deadly. But he didn’t do any of that. Not to her. She was safe, even though she very well shouldn’t be; she was protected - from him, and from anything else that might want to hurt her.
Of course, Jacen didn’t get that. He seemed to think it was the opposite - that she was putting herself more at risk by being close to the Archangel... and maybe in the beginning, that had been true. She’d been laughing in the face of danger, basically - recognized the risks and made a conscious decision to disregard them. Yeah, it was probably pretty stupid, to most people, but ...she hadn’t ever really thought he would hurt her. Just because he could didn’t mean he would.
Kriff, if anyone was at risk in this... whatever it was, it was him, not her. By associating with her, he’d effectively gotten a target painted on his back - several, actually. Jacen was practically gunning for him just because of his association with Jaina. And, okay, Sam hating him didn’t have anything to do with her, but she’d definitely had a hand in Lucifer paying attention to him, which was worse than Sam and Jacen combined. Sure, the Devil might have eventually turned his attention to the Archangel that was ignoring the war going on around them, but it wouldn’t have been now. He might not have cared if Gabriel had simply stayed completely neutral, at least not until the end. Now, though, he had been given an ultimatum, and he hadn’t picked the side Lucifer was going to like.
Meanwhile, Jaina was fine - her life was actually at significantly less risk since she’d met Gabriel. It wasn’t exactly fair - but she didn’t really think there was anything she could do about it. She wasn’t strong enough to protect him from Lucifer, and having to protect him from Jacen would be.... it wasn’t something she ever wanted to have to do. Which was why she wanted to talk to him now - maybe this time he would see reason. She just wanted him to be safe.
As he drew back to look at her, she smiled up at him warmly. She always liked it when he was in a lighter mood like this - it was too bad she'd have to go and make things slightly less good for a while. Even if the end result was better, the conversation itself wasn't going to be... like this.