#broken limbs

Tenel Ka had the lead, as always, and Jacen was right behind her. Lowie had been bringing up the rear, but with a wookie bellow he leaped overhead, shielding Zekk and Jaina with his golden blade.

Lowie bellowed, and Zekk mentally translated before Em-Teedee could pipe up. He dragged Jaina behind the GNK with him, cradling her head as he reached for her injured leg. Lowie barked an approval, pressing forward with the others. 

Blasterfire shot by their hiding place. Zekk jerked his arm to shield Jaina, and she grunted in pain.

“Sorry, sorry,” Zekk apologized hastily. Her foot was definitely not supposed to bend in that direction.

He made a split-hair decision and activated his wrist-comm with his nose so that he could keep a good hold on Jaina. “Keep on them, guys, I’m taking Jaina back to the Lightning Rod.”

“Roger!” Jacen replied.

“Oh no, no you’re not,” Jaina pushed Zekk back and grabbed her lightsaber again, “I can still-” She attempted to push herself up onto her feet, but her leg gave way and she fell over Zekk’s shoulder. The others were blocking most of the laserfire, giving him an escape path. 

Jaina grunted as he ran, slamming her fists against his back. "Put me down you overgrown tree!" She shouted.

Zekk ran faster as a blaster bolt landed by his foot, "I mean if you have any better ideas for getting you to the ship when you can't walk we can always discuss them in a committee."

"I AM NOT A COMMITTEE!" Jaina gave an unladylike screech as they left the firefight behind. Zekk called on the force to help him run , trying to remember the route back to the hangar where they left his ship.

He felt Jaina fold her arms in an attempt to pout. “We’re in concourse C, hangar forty-nine.”

Zekk silently thanked her, and moments later he was opening his ship’s ramp and willing it to go faster.

“You can put me down, you know?”

“What, like you’re gonna get yourself up the ramp without any support?” Zekk smirked, and she elbowed him in the ribs. 

Once safely on board, Zekk set Jaina in the bunk and hurried to the cockpit to start the takeoff cycle. They needed to be able to make a quick getaway once Jacen and the others got the holocron. 

A loud clanging noise from the hold tore him from the cockpit. Jaina had fallen out of the bunk, attempted to walk, and promptly tripped over Zekk’s toolkit.

“Jaina!” Zekk tried to settle her into a sitting position on the cot, and she huffed.

“Just because I hurt my leg doesn’t mean I can’t help,” She pouted. Zekk began to search his greasy excuse of a ship for the medkit. 

“You’re right, it doesn’t mean you can’t help, but it does mean that you need to rest and not agitate your leg.”

“It’s not that bad-” she insisted.

Zekk tore the medkit out from under the pile of robes and pointed at her foot, “It’s twisted ninety degrees to the right and you can’t put any weight on it,” He declared sharply.

Jaina frowned, but said nothing. 

Zekk tried to remember the force healing lessons from Tionne as he prepared to splint Jaina’s leg. He couldn’t ignore the small whisper of “Ow, ow, ow, ow,” that escaped her breath as he gently eased her boot off. If it was going to heal correctly, it needed to be rotated back into position. 

“Well, Doctor Zekk?” Jaina folded her arms crossly again.

Zekk sighed, “This is gonna hurt.”

She groaned, “I hate you.”

“I know.” He nodded, “Put your hands on my shoulders.”

Reluctantly, Jaina unfolded her arms to place both hands on Zekk’s boney shoulders. She took a deep breath, trying to shake out all the tension in her muscles.

“You ready?” Zekk asked. Before she could not, he quickly turned her foot into the proper position. Jaina took a deep breath to mitigate the pain, and she gripped his shoulders so tightly Zekk imagined she might rip them from his neck.

He gently massaged her ankle, trying to ensure that the bones were aligned properly before he wrapped it up. She could get proper treatment at the Temple’s medical bay once they got back, but Zekk didn’t want to make the Med-Droid’s job any more difficult than it had to be.

Once Jaina’s breathing had calmed down and her grip on his shoulders had eased up, Zekk took the extendable splints, measuring them to her leg and her foot, holding them into place with ribbons of yellowed gauze. No sooner had he tied the bandage into place, than his comm began to go off.

Jaina accepted it before he could free his hands.

“What’s up?”

“Hey guys! It’s Jacen. Um, what hangar are we in again?”

“Concourse C, Hangar forty-nine!” Jaina and Zekk exclaimed together.

A minute later, Lowie was co-piloting for Zekk, and the ramp just barely closed on Jacen’s heels as the smugglers caught up with them. Jaina rolled her eyes as Jacen proudly presented their coveted treasure.

“I wonder what’s in here…” He murmured, attempting to twist the corners of the glowing blue cube to activate it.

With a tug of the force, Tenel Ka yanked it from his hand. 

“Master Skywalker specifically requested that we refrain from activating the holocron until he is present,” She reminded them.

“Yeah, but Jaina and I are both Skywalkers, so that counts for something, right?”

Tenel Ka raised one eyebrow at her boyfriend.

“You’re also Solos, which gives you the worst luck in the galaxy,” Zekk said. Lowie chortled in amusement.

Before Jacen or Jaina could make further argument, the alarms warning of approaching ships blared, and Tenel Ka slipped the holocron in the velvet-lined container Master Skywalker had given them for such purposes. Zekk and Lowie made the jump to hyperspace, and relief flooded the force. Despite injuries and getting lost, and the Lightning Rod’s constant rattling, they had made it out alive.

Now all that was left was the adrenaline-fueled, anxiety-inducing eight hours until they made it back to Yavin IV.

Lowie sat in the cockpit, tinkering with Em-Teedee, and Tenel Ka insisted that Jacen’s snoring wasn’t bothering her meditation, so Zekk went back to check on Jaina. 

Jacen had her bundled up in one of the light blankets like a doll, and she didn’t have the energy to toss them aside.

“How’s the leg?” Zekk grinned, leaning over the bunk.

“It’s fine,” she shrugged, “I feel loads better.”

“Uh-huh…” Zekk slowly nodded. “Did you eat your rations earlier?”

“Most of them,” Jaina pointed to the plate of Jacen’s latest concoction from the food processors, “I got real thirsty.”

“Lemme get you-”

“No!” Jaina sat up quickly, and her volume made Zekk jump, watching her curiously.

“I, I mean, I can get it myself-” Before she could toss aside the blankets, Zekk gave her a gentle push back into the bunk.

“No,” he said firmly, “I can get you water. It’s no problem.” 

Jaina slumped back against the mattress, and Zekk tapped the water purifier a couple times to get it working.

"You don't have to do stuff for me," a small voice muttered.

Zekk's ponytail swung around to smack his face as he spun to look at Jaina.

She lay on her side, tracing patterns into the fabric of the cot mattress.

"Your leg is broken. Of course I'm going to help you do stuff."

"I can get myself a glass of water." Jaina's hand stubbornly curled into a fist.

Zekk turned his whole body to face her, a cup of water in his hand.

"Can you?" He hummed in amusement.

Jaina lifted her head to glare at him.

"You said you can do it yourself. Come on, I dare you."

Her lips tightened into a frown, and she tossed the blanket to the side, revealing the splint strapped to her leg.

Zekk smirked as she swung her good leg over the side of the bed, struggling to pull the splint after it. He even kicked one of the crates of parts out of the way to make it easier for her.

Jaina grabbed the hanging net that held larger weaponry to pull herself to her feet. She stepped forward on her bad foot, and Zekk resisted the instinctive urge to stop her, even as the Force cried out in pain.

Jaina was good at hiding what she was feeling, but she still bit her lip at the pain.

Zekk raised one eyebrow. Jaina refused to look at him, her face slowly turning red as her breaths deepened.

It was like swinging from branch to branch in the trees back on Yavin. She could do this. She grabbed onto two loops, hanging on for dear life, pitifully hopping forward. She flushed darker, painfully aware of Zekk's eyes carefully watching her.

Zekk's smug satisfaction was slowly becoming concern as Jaina stubbornly crossed half the distance between them, determined to prove her independence. She'd even forgotten the use of the Force in the process.

Her foot knocked against the crate, and as the air was ripped from her lungs, she let go of the net and fell.

Zekk dropped the cup of water in order to catch her. He knelt on the floor with a tangled heap of Jaina in his lap. Her face was hidden in his greasy flight vest in embarrassment.

"Come on," Zekk whispered, his hands tucked under her arms, "Needing help doesn't make you weak, and it doesn't make me think any less of you. I promise."

Jaina nodded against his chest, as if she had known all along.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Zekk kissed the top of her head, "I love you, you scruffy-looking nerf herder."

"Yeah right," Jaina tugged on his vest, "You're the scruffy one."

Zekk pulled Jaina to her feet and ruffled her hair, pulled out a bit of leather to tie it back from her face.

"Repeat after me: I am a strong, independent woman."

"I am a strong, independent woman."

"But I need to take a nap."

"Kriff no."

Without warning, Zekk wrapped one arm firmly around Jaina's back and the other behind her legs, sweeping her up into his arms.

"You stupid tree!" Jaina sputtered up the same insult from earlier. Zekk ignored her, gently laying her on the bed. He lifted up the covers, and slipped in beside her. Before Jaina could register what was happening, Zekk had his arms around her chest, pulling her face to face with him.

"Jaina, go to sleep."

Jaina's jaw snapped shut before she could catch flies. Zekk's hand cradled the back of her head, tucking it beneath his chin.

"I can still take you," she insisted

"Yeah you can," He agreed, "Goodnight Jaina."