WHO: Tahiri Veila and Jacen Solo WHAT: There’s some news. It’s dramatic WHEN: Thursday morning WHERE: Their place RATING: TBD STATUS: In Progress [Cut lyrics: With Arms Wide Open by Creed]
At first she had put her tiredness down to the strain of using so much of her power, so little sleep, the stress of Lawrence since the explosion. Then, when the nausea started, Tahiri assumed it was the poor diet of the past few days, grabbing food as and when there was time, mostly junk food at that. And then she had glanced at the date, just reading the papers.
Such a random thing really. But with the days and nights blurring together, the fact it was into the last couple of weeks of October had made her pause. A couple of weeks since the explosion. Which meant she was late. More than a week late, in fact. Tahiri had even panicked a little, instinctively shutting down in the Force and hiding herself away as she frantically checked the calendar over and over again. Because the dates had to be wrong, she was never late, it was all fine, it had to be.
Denial had been her default state for a few days now, hiding away in the Force, hoping Jacen wouldn’t notice, wouldn’t ask, would be too distracted by everything going on to pay much attention to her. If his suspicions had been raised, he hadn’t said anything, not even when she had asked for the distractions she offered to be gentler than normal. Purely because she was tired. Nothing else. Obviously. It was all fine, completely fine.
But the days passed. And nothing changed, not the tiredness, not the nausea, none of it. And her panic grew, the emotional guards around herself getting tighter and tighter, until finally she gave up. On Earth, in this world, there were tests, simple tests that could be done, and she could put her mind at ease and Jacen never needed to know that anything had been wrong. It wasn’t difficult to get a couple of hours to herself, waiting until Jacen went out for a bit, checking on the various things he needed to keep on top of. And while Tahiri didn’t know exactly when he would be back, she had to hope it would be long enough. Getting to the shop was not problem, even if the different tests on offer were highly confusing. She had stared blankly at them for several long moments before she just grabbed one of each and paid in a hurry, just wanting to get out of there, get the job done with.
Easier planned than done. Once home, she locked herself in the bathroom, sitting on the floor and staring at the array of boxes laid out in front of her. Minutes ticked by as she just sat there, telling herself to just get up, get it done, find out.
It wasn’t until a new wave of nausea swelled up and she suddenly had to lurch forwards and throw up in the toilet that she actually did move. Her hand shaking as she reached for some water, rinsing the bitter taste from her mouth.
Fine, okay, standing up, so she might as well get on with it. She reached out blindly, just grabbing the nearest of the boxes, getting on with the test. The two minutes to get the result felt like forever, but then she was just staring at it in shocked terror.
Maybe that one had been the cheap one. Yes, she was sure that was the cheap one. So she went for all the boxes, doing each test, working her way up this time, to the most expensive brand, the one that claimed the most accuracy.
They all said the same thing.
Tahiri gripped the plastic stick with a growing sickness that was completely different from the nausea. Slowly, oh so slowly, she closed her eyes and focused inwards, tentatively reaching out in the Force, not for Jacen, as she so instinctively did. No, as far as any other psychic or Force user was concerned, she was hidden. No, she was reaching out with her senses to her own body, something she so rarely did, not since the days of being Shaped, when her body ceased to be utterly her own.
And there it was. Right then, she knew, knew that the tests weren’t lying to her, weren’t wrong.
Deep breaths. Long and slow, deep breaths. She was almost on autopilot as she tidied the bathroom, taking only the last test with her and calmly placing it on the nightstand by her side of the bed, hidden slightly behind her lamp. And then she sat on the bed and reached for her phone. The message she sent to Jacen was simple.
We need to talk. I’m in the bedroom. It’s important.