Project Boussh: Fade
By Alison Sky      

      "And that is how we ended up getting involved in this 
project?"
      Face nodded, patting Dia's hand that was slipped through his 
arm.  They walked the halls of the palace for the better part of an 
hour, Face telling Dia all the details of their life together that he 
could get out in the time span.  He avoided any memories that were 
painful, such as Castin Donn and other friends they had lost.  
      What he really wanted to do was release all his pain in her 
arms.  If she had been herself, he would have freely been able to 
confide in her, tell her everything that had happened and she would 
have found a way to make him be at peace with everything.
      But right now she needed him, and he would push his terrors 
aside until he knew that she was whole again.  One day, when they 
were back home, and Dia was herself again; then he would tell her all 
that had happened to him.
      "Face?"
      Face turned his head back to Dia.  She looked at him with 
scared and innocent eyes, and he could not help but fall back in love 
with her.  "Yes, love?"
      "While I was on the Red Home, what were you doing?"
      Face bit his lip.  "I was fighting my own battles," he stated 
simply.  "I never knew what happened to you until just a few hours 
ago, or I would have been there for you."
      Dia nodded, squeezing his hand.  "I know you would.  But 
you're here now, so that's all that matters."
      They reached the courtyard soon, and weaved their way among 
the starfighters that had landed in the field.  Vape tottled over to 
them, beeping a greeting to Dia.  Dia smiled and laid her hand upon 
the R2's dome.  "Hello Vape."
      Face spun his head around.  "You remember Vape?"  Dia nodded, 
a smile on her face.  For a moment, Face was jealous of the little 
droid, and then the significance hit him.  "You're starting to 
remember things on your own?"
      "Little bits, here and there.  Nothing major still."  Dia 
closed her eyes.  "Maybe some more talking will help me remember."
      "I think I know what else could help."  Face reached around 
and took Dia's cheek in his hand, he gently caressed her face, and 
she nuzzled against his palm.  He lowered his head, and let his lips 
gently touch hers.  Face felt her arms sneak around his neck, and he 
let his find her back.  One hand found her uninjured braintail and he 
stroked it while they held onto each other.
      When they separated for lack of air, Dia smiled up at 
Face.  "That's one thing I'm kinda glad I forgot."
      Face's lips twitched.  "What do you mean?"
      "It's not everyday you get to feel something so wonderful for 
the first time again."
      Face chuckled, then leaned down and kissed her again, 
wrapping his arms around her to never let her go again as long as he 
could hope for.


      Alison smiled from the walkway window she leaned against.  
She had been worried about her two friends, and seeing them finally 
in an embrace let her know that everything was going to be OK between 
Face and Dia.  
      Hopefully Dia's memory will be back after the battle with 
Thrawn, Alison thought to herself, and in her mind she made a firm 
commitment that she would be the one to tell Dia about what had 
happened between her and Face.  She needed to know what had happened 
to her lover, and Face would be too proud to tell her until Dia was 
fully healed.  Maybe if it came from Alison, and she explained that 
it was just a momentary lapse in sanity on both ends... maybe Dia would 
forgive her in time too.
      "There you are."
      Alison turned to see Emily coming down the hallway.  Her 
sword was at her hip, and she was practicing a better way to walk 
with the sword to avoid hitting people with it.  Alison smiled at 
her.  "Its not like I've been hiding from anyone."
      Emily looked out the next window and saw Face and Dia 
talking, holding each other at arm's length.  "I'm glad to see them 
finally back together."
      "Me too," Alison stated.  "Things were getting pretty strange 
there for a bit."
      "Strange?"  Emily let a smirk come to her face.  "You seemed 
to be enjoying it."
      Alison scowled and reached out to slap her wingmate upside 
her head, but Emily spun out of distance quickly, laughing.  Shaking 
her head, Alison turned away from the scene in the yard and leaned 
against the wall.  "What you want from me, Em?  Besides abuse, that 
is?"
      Emily looked her wingmate over.  "Where's your sword?"
      Alison let her hand run along her waist, noting the missing 
hilt that had been at her hip since the incident at Retsim's 
lab.  "I'm trying to cut back on the intimidation look," she replied.
      "You sure it's wise to be unarmed in the palace?  I've heard 
that there are still pockets of stormies in some of the levels."
      Alison gave Emily a dark grin.  "Trust me, Emily.  I'm not as 
unarmed as I look."
      Emily's eyes opened wide for a moment, and then she 
smiled.  "I forget.  Knife in the boot.  You know that he's going to 
want it back."
      "I know.  But he's just going to have to find it first... and 
figure out how to explain my death to Sci since he won't get it 
without killing me first."
      Emily laughed.  "So, where did you disappear to after 
breakfast?  I wanted to introduce you to Wes... the REAL Wes, that 
is."  She was quiet for a second.  "I'm going to miss the backrub 
Wes."
      "I'll make you a new one when we get back to the Spaceport," 
Alison promised.
      Nodding, Emily jumped up on the windowsill.  "So, where were 
you?"
      "Checking on Face," Alison replied.  "I wanted to make sure 
he was doing ok after hearing about Dia."
      "You've been spending a lot of time with him lately," Emily 
stated.
      "He is my friend," Alison replied.  "What are you implying?"
      "Nothing!" Emily held her hands up.  "Just wanted to make 
sure that little bacta tank incident is..."
      "It's all taken care of," Alison said curtly.  
      "Good.  I was getting worried about you."
      "Worried?  Why?"
      "Well, I've noticed that you don't socialize too much with 
the Terra Groupers.  You seem to spend your company mainly with 
Hobbie, Ooryl and Face these days."  Emily's eyes drifted to her 
sword.
      Alison shrugged.  "I guess it's because I'm more comfortable 
with them," she said.  "I'm not that good in big gatherings."
      "But it's like you don't want to be around us," Emily 
said.  "Did you know that Vickie is back?"
      Alison nodded.  "I heard."
      "Did you at least go and talk to her?  She's had quite an 
adventure."
      Alison sighed.  She really didn't want to talk about her anti-
social ways right now.  She looked up at Emily with a /let's discuss 
this later/ look.  "Anything else?"
      "Yeah."  Emily looked away for a second, then back at 
her.  "I was wondering how upset you would be if I'm not paired with 
you in the next mission."
      Alison slanted her eyes.  "Why?"
      "I want to fly an X-Wing," Emily said, an edge of excitement 
in her voice.  "Hobbie taught me pretty well, and I was doing good in 
the practice SIM's he put me in.  Says that I can be a good pilot.  
And I mean, I want to be down there hacking and slashing as much as 
you do, but this might be my only chance to fly in battle, and I want 
to give it a try."
      "We do have a lot of New Republic people to do the flying," 
Alison stated.  "More people than ships, actually."
      "But some of them are going to be in the insertion team," 
Emily pointed out.  "I'm sure there will be a ship for me if I can 
prove that I can fly."
      Alison nodded.  "I'm going to miss having you protecting my 
back, Em."
      "From what I hear about you fighting Atner, I don't think 
you'll need anyone at your back," Emily stated.  
      "It's never good to have your back unprotected," Alison 
stated quietly.  She looked back up at Emily.  "Just make sure that 
you don't open a broadcast com and announce for anyone to kiss your 
wookiee."
      Emily laughed.  "I won't.  There's too much kissing going on 
around her anyway.  Did you hear about Mike and Shalla?"
      Alison's eyes widened.  "No!  Tell me!"
      "Well, from what I'm hearing, the two of them..."
      A comlink's beeping cut off Emily's words.  She pulled out 
the device and turned it on.  "Emily here."
      It was an automated message that replied to her words.  "All 
Terran and New Republic members please report to the audience chamber 
for mission briefing."
      Emily sighed and stuffed the cylinder into her pocket.  "And 
it begins."