Murphy's Law

[Jesimae Lawson]

------------------------

Jesimae shifted feeling cold. It was that cold that one only felt early in the morning when the sun was turning the sky grey and letting everyone know that it was time for the day to begin. She frowned and shifted in another poisition feeling Taro right beside her. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the peaceful face contorting. She looked up at the ceiling finally realizing that it was that time, that time to wake up, take on a different name, and head to an unfamiliar place for God knew how long. At least she knew she'd have Taro...or...whatever he was going to choose as his false name.

"Mmm..." She groaned feeling her stomach suddenly yell at her. She was starving, but she felt sick like she was going to puke. It was that nice feeling she always got when she woke up this early. "Taro?" She said lowly in that morning voice she always had. Her throat burned from all those cigarette they had smoked last night, and she wanted more sleep for it was very hard to come by due to the two of them laying awake all night. Well, she did. Tossing and turning not finding any position comfortable for her.

"Baby? What time is it?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro was aroused by Jesimae's husky voice beckoning him out of the land of the dead. He had been dreaming about spiders--he didn't know why spiders--and the sound of her voice had broken an image of a black widow crawling up Taro's arm.

He gave an involuntary shiver, half due to cold, half to the spider that he knew wasn't there, but was still eerily real. Taro cracked one eye open to leer at Jesimae for a moment before he groaned and opened both eyes. They had that horrible early morning ache, deep in the back, in the retina. They felt swollen due to how long he had lain awake, considering all the worst case scenerios. He shook his head as if refusing to awake before he turned his head to look at the clock.

It blared in block blue numbers 5:52 A.M. Taro rubbed a hand down his face and turned his head back to Jesimae.

"Five fifty-two..." he muttered, his voice husky and scratchy and his throat so raw from all the cigarettes it was almost enough to make him quit. But he knew in a few hours when more stress had set in he would want one. "God..." he said, rubbing his eyes furiously. He was trying to wipe the sleep out of them, but he certainly knew that that wasn't happening anytime soon. He slowly looked over at Jesimae.

"Everything's ready on your end?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

She yawned and moved slightly in the bed. This was by far the worst morning of her life and it hadn't even truly begun yet. She nodded and blinked away the tears and the sleep. She just wanted to curl in a ball and hold onto Taro like he were a teddy bear, which at night he usually was, and go back to sleep and dream of something else, something sweet and something without any stress.

"Yeah." She finally voiced as she slowly sat up, feeling the sheet fall off of her naked body and the air hit her so fast that she was almost mad at herself for falling into the habit of never wearing clothes at night. She blamed Taro. She sighed out and rubbed her head and slowly moved off the bed, tapping his thigh.

"Come on, baby. We gotta go." She saw the clothes she had laid out the night before so she could just get dressed and head out. She stretched and sighed glancing at him. She just stared for a moment and smiled. She prayed to God that having to live on a colony for an extended period of time wasn't going to be that bad. She knew that Taro being with her was going to make things a lot better, hopefully they'd allude the officials and all would be well.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro followed suit, sitting up and stretching. He threw his legs over the side of the bed stumbling slightly as his internal balance got thrown off. He grabbed the pair of jeans he had laid out the evening previous and pulled them on over his grey boxers, the waistband of which still stuck out slightly. He grabbed the dark blue t-shirt and pulled it on over his head.

He gave his hair a finger comb before kicking his duffel towards the door, brushing his teeth, and moving back out to pack a couple last minute things. He scratched his head, remembering Jiro. He glanced at Jesimae.

"I'm gonna go let Jiro know we're leaving," Taro said with a nod. He moved out of the room. Ever since Jiro had returned from Naboo without Orange and with Mei-li, he was rarely at the apartment anymore. But Taro had heard him come in the night before and go to bed. Taro moved to the boy's room, opening the door quietly and going over to where the little one slept peacefully, one arm thrown over his eyes, the other resting on his stomach. Taro couldn't help but smile as he went over and gently picked Jiro's hand up to move it off his face. He leaned down and kissed Jiro's ear to rouse him.

After a moment or two, Jiro stirred and looked up into Taro's face, the sleep evident on his face. Taro leaned down and kissed Jiro's forehead, tears trying to crawl up in his throat.

"Jes and I are leaving, baby," Taro whispered so as not to make too much noise. Jiro watched him for a long moment as if computing before nodding. He smiled.

"Okay, big brother. Have fun," Jiro said so sincerely, his dumbness to the situation exactly what Taro wanted. The less Jiro knew, the safer he would be. Taro nodded, giving Jiro the best smile he could muster. He leaned down and kissed Jiro on the mouth, then the forehead again. Taro leaned back and nodded.

"Go back to sleep. Bye, baby," he said. Jiro smiled and Taro turned, making his way back out of the room and to his and Jesimae's room again. He leaned on the doorframe, still fighting back a few tears. Taro had never not known when he was going to see Jiro again. And he didn't like the feeling one bit.

"Almost ready, love?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae allowed him to go without saying so much as an okay. She heard him leave and she glanced over her shoulder in time to see him walk out and turn the corner heading towards his room. She nodded finally and glanced down at her bag so unsure of this whole thing. Jesimae had done this before with ease, but then she wasn't so co-dependent on someone she had been independent and carefree, if she were to die nobody would miss her except a few friends who would eventually forget her in the long run.

Jesimae sighed out with anger as she tossed her toothbrush into the duffel bag. How could she have felt like she had nothing to live for? It made her sick and it also made her depressed, then again she hadn't been feeling her usual self since Haru disappeared. She frowned feeling the ball of tears crawl up her throat as her mind allowed her the time to think about Haruko more throroughly, as well as Jiro. She felt some tears fall and she figured she could cry for them now without Taro seeing her. SHe needed to be strong during this whole ordeal or she knew she wouldn't make it.

Jesimae hoped he was okay, hope that he wasn't dead for there had been so many people who loved and missed him, she especially. She didn't know why but had this unusual attachment to him and had they never known about him she wondered how her life would be. She smiled suddenly feeling better as she thought of Jiro and how much she loved him and how much she'd miss him. Although feeling depressed over the absence of Haru was a common feeling for her Jiro always brightened her up, he always having that way about him.

Jesimae finally realized she was spending too much time thinking about it. She zipped up the bag and sniffed away the tears and picked the bag up off the floor and tossed it onto her shoulder, just in time to hear Taro. She smiled at him and tilted her head and walked over to him and ran her hands up his chest and to his face. She gave him a kiss and ran her knuckles down his left cheek.

"Yeah." She said in an upbeat tone trying to sound happy and act as if this were some vacation when she knew that it wasn't. "Ready whenever you are."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded, picking up his duffel and pulling it onto his shoulder. He took Jesimae's hand reassuringly. Carefully, and quietly, Taro walked through his apartment, glancing around for a last look in case it was the last time he saw it.

They left the apartment without a word, and Taro closed the door with a soft thud, locking it behind him and sliding the keycard underneath the door for Jiro to have, even though he already had his own. He knew Jiro might think it was an odd thing to leave his key, but by the time his brother found it, he and Jesimae would be long gone, and he knew that Jiro would probably just dismiss it as Taro's brain backfiring.

Taro lead Jesimae down through the building until they reached the street below, the only thing alive now being the traffic overhead. But then again, the traffic never stopped. Coruscant--even though it looked dead now--was never asleep. There was always something going on, people awake to party, or drink, or fight, or have fun, or stress about something. Taro hadn't ever known much else. His time spent on other planets when he had been younger had only given him the view of the seedy underbelly, not the normal lives of normal people. But Coruscant had always been his home, and would remain so, even if he never saw it again.

Taro was trying to stay optimistic, think that when this all blew over that he could come back and hold Jiro again, and find Haruko safely back home. He was trying to tell himself that Coruscant would be there and would wait for he and Jesimae to return. That all of this would eventually be like a nightmare that had passed and never needed to be revisited.

Yet Taro had never been much of an optimist. He had always expected the worst, so that if it happened, he wouldn't be surprised. He'd always considered the worst case scenerios, at times it was almost like an obsession. Trying to guess what could happen, trying to cover all angles, knowing he couldn't and letting it drive him nuts. He'd been doing it since the news was spilled to him and he was on the verge of going insane because he didn't know how things would end up, and he wouldn't until they did, in fact, end, whenever that may be.

Taro and Jesimae made thier way to a taxi platform, where a taxi was quick to show up. Taro opened the door, shoving his things in and then Jesimae's on top of it. He waited until his wife had gotten in, holding the door open. He glanced once around the cold, stale morning on Coruscant, not seeing a soul, before he followed suit and scooted into the taxi, pulling the door closed with a soft thud. He leaned forward, typing in thier destination to the pilot system, and leaned back as the taxi turned and began through traffic.

And Taro was aware that he could be leaving his life behind for good.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae felt sick to her stomach once they were heading towards the port where Taro's ship was located. She was hungry for one thing, but it was hurting for fear. She looked over at Taro and couldn't help but see a blankness in his eyes like he was no longer feeling anything. She wasn't sure if that was possible for his eyes were very expressive and at the exact moment she was just unsure about everything, even what Taro was feeling. She looked out the window seeing the hover ways seemingly getting more packed every minute, morning commuters getting ready to go to work. She leaned her head on the seat and sighed out glaring around as if she had never seen it all before, but it was more or less a last look for her, she did everytime she went on a job or when she went to hide out for she was never sure when, and if, she'd return.

Jesimae was feeling more detached from everything in Coruscant the longer they were in the taxi, the sky kept getting darker by the minute due to traffic and the closer they got to the port. She leaned her head up to glance out of the front window to see it on the horizon and she was brought back to a world she thought she had long forgotten. She was going into hiding for Godssake! She was on the run...but a few weeks ago she was just trying her hand at being a good wife and living her life with Taro and the family, not alluding capture and trying to be a good fugitive. She frowned and leaned her head onto her left hand, pushing her fingertips onto her forehead. She closed her eyes and tried to think of some way to view this as a good break from everyhting, but that was impossible when one had to consider the fact that she and her husband could both die.

That thought forced her to open her eyes. What is something happened to Taro while on this trip? He said he'd protect her and there was no doubt in her mind that he would, but what if he did so at the expensive of his own life? How would she be able to come back to Coruscant and tell everyone that it was her fault their brother, her husband, was dead. She couldn't do it, wouldn't do it. She glanced at Taro and she was tempted to tell him she wasn't going to let him go along, but she couldn't. If there was one thing she knew she wouldn't be able to do was go through all of this on her own. She grinned realizing that she was luckier than most and having Taro by her side allowed her to have more optimism than she ever had previously and she felt safer as well.

Jesimae dropped her left hand and leaned over on Taro and put her head on his shoulder, grabbing his hand to hold. If there was anything she was grateful of it was having him there, she knew that if they both got back to Coruscant in one piece she'd definitely spend every day of her life letting Taro know that without him, no matter how small a task, she wouldn't be able to make it.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro started slightly when Jesimae put her head on his shoulder and took his hand. He had been lost in his own thoughts and had zoned everything around him out. He glanced down at her, then shifted to raise his arm behind her and wrap it around her shoulders, leaning his head on hers and sighing out.

Taro had had to hide out before. There used to be plenty of people who would have liked him dead because he ripped them off in a drug deal, or gave them faulty hints and tips. There had been times when he had not known if he was going to make it. But never like this. He had feared being hurt or killed, but never really believed that it would happen to him. Suddenly, he believed that it might. And not only to him, but to the woman he so dearly cared for, and the family he so desperately loved.

Taro squeezed Jesimae a little tighter, the fear that swelled in his stomach at the thought of losing her almost overwhelming. He had a fierce desire to protect her and would do so at all costs. Taro looked up as he saw the port drawing near. Soon, they would be on thier way to...somewhere. Taro still hadn't gotten the coordinates for the colony, but he would worry about those only when they were off this planet, and a fairly safe distance away.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae felt so happy when she felt him respond, no matter how many times he did it she could never not like having Taro touch her. She grinned slowly knowing that no matter how tough the situation or outcome Taro would always be there. She looked up at the port and saw that they were near and her stomach turned and she felt as if she were going to throw up at any moment, which..in fact....she was.

"Taro?" She said to him sitting up and grabbing her stomach. "Baby...I think I am going to puke."

[Taro Lawson]

------

Taro did not think he could have been more angry than he was now. He certainly understand the urge to puke just coming over you. It had happened to him several times in his life. But really...

"I love her...I do...Ido!" Taro was growling to himself as he washed his shirt off in the sink of the bathroom. Luckily, she hadn't gotten him bad, just a little. But still, he had been puked on before in his life and it wasn't exactly something he yearned after. And added to the stress of having to leave his brothers behind, his life behind, everything behind. This was just not something he needed.

Taro had already told several people to beat it when they had needed to get into the sink. And they hadn't tried to stand up to him. Taro might have been a small man, but he was by no means nonthreatening.

He wet a paper towel and wiped off his sweating face. He was burning up, and now, he was going to have to wander around shirtless. He wasn't putting the wet shirt back on. He looked down, checking his pants. They had been spared, luckily. Taro washed his hands and face and moved out of the port bathroom and took a deep breath.

There were few people milling around. Taro wrung out his shirt and glanced at the women's bathroom just across the way from him. He had left Jesimae to herself in there while he had gone to yell obscenities at the bathroom mirror, the people who came in unsuspectingly, and nearly beat the hell out of a guy who had tried to tell him to stop. So far, the morning, what not one Taro was likely going to remember with fondness.

"I love her..." he said again, looking at his wedding ring to remind himself. "I love her a lot."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae sighed out as she leaned against the sink, staring at her tired eyes and her frizzled hair. What was going on with her? This was the first time she had ever puked one someone and, of all people, on Taro! God he must've wanted to kill her when she did that. The look on his face was of sheer disgust, which it wasn't that much fun having to experience it coming out! Jesimae frowned trying to fight off the tears but couldn't. She looked down at the water pouring over her hands, bawling like a child who had just gotten a scraped knee. A young woman walked out of the stall to see her and immediately walked over, asking her if she was all right. Jesimae looked over at her with surprise, scared to death to even talk to anyone.

"N-No! I'm fine." She said to her, breathing heavily as she tried to breathe. "Motion sickness." The woman wasn't convinced and simply let her alone, Jesimae was thankful. She wondered if Taro was ready to kill her because she had been in the bathroom for twenty years, puking up nothing but her stomach for she hadn't eaten anything. She tried to clean her mouth out with water, her hands from touching the commode, and her hair that was messed up from how many times she ran her hands through it to keep it away from her face.

"God." She said to herself as she turned the water off and dried her face and hands off on a few paper towels. She sighed out when she tossed it into the garbage and walked out of the door, seeing Taro ringing out his shirt. Suddenly she felt sick again.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro looked up at her as she came out. He let out a long sigh, still repeating that he loved her dearly and that it was just something that happened. He was sure he would laugh about it in not long at all.

"Are you feeling okay, baby?" he asked, his voice sounding soft, even though he was agitated. He wasn't angry with her, he was just angry at the entire situation. He walked over to her and sighed. "When we get on the ship you can lie down."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae pushed a piece of her hair behind her head and nodded, not really wanting to look him in the eyes cause she felt so bad for it all. She just wanted to get to the colony and try and live some sorty of normal life for a while. She was feeling paranoid here and she suspected everyone as a bounty hunter, an official, just someone who was going to turn her in and lead to her demise. She was feeling so sick to her stomach and it would come and go and it was very annoying. What had she eaten to have caused her stomach problems? She sighed out and nodded yet again.

"I just wanna get out of here." Jesimae hugged herself feeling so bad for barfing all over Taro, feeling bad because he was having to do this, feeling horrible for stealing him from his family, even worse that she was going to puke again at any given moment...she felt it.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro tossed his head for her to follow him.

"Come on, babe," he said. He turned and began down the ramp towards the Angry Lady. God, it had been a long time since he had had to use this thing. He saw Ren Wilcox waiting by it, moving something onto it. Taro smiled at him as he and Jesimae approached. The younger man eyed him.

"Got everything on there. She's ready whenever you are, Taro" he said with a nod. Taro smiled and waved. He turned back to Jesimae and moved behind her. He put two hands on her shoulders and kissed the back of her neck. "Go in and lay down, baby. We'll be out of here within ten minutes." Taro turned back to Ren and gave him a nod. "Thanks, Ren. Be back in a couple weeks. Do me a favor and drop by and see Jiro. He's been wanting to see you."

"Will do, Taro. Have fun."

And Taro disappered into his ship. The hatch closed with a hiss behind him and the lights flickered on. He moved into the cockpit and flopped down in the pilot's chair. The ship hummed like a crouching tiger between his knees. He hooked on his earpeice and heard the static from the control area.

"Alright up there, Angry Lady?" came the cheerful voice of the man who monitered the outgoing and incoming ships. Taro smiled a little as the view screen opened.

"Doin' good. We're ready in here," Taro answered, flipping for release of the ship. It shuddered and hummed.

"Alright. Have a good trip."

"Will do."

The ship roared to life and rumbled upwards towards the stars.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae laid on her back staring up at the ceiling. It had been so damn long since she had been there in his bed, on this ship...it was clouded by bad memories. She didn't want to see this ship ever again in her life for it brought back too many memories. Although she had a lot of great memories of the bedroom, the pantry, the shower, the floor, the kitchen, the kitchen table, the captain's chair....any part of this ship had some good memory, but the larger ones just overshadowed it all.

Last time she was there in this bed it had been right after meeting Deacallion, his demise, and Jiro's recovery, and the meeting of Orange Diren.

Jesimae sighed out not wanting to think of the bad anymore, she was tired of it. She knew she could stop by thinking of something else, but it was like a train wreck waiting to happen. She held her stomach with her right hand, her left by her head holding a clump if white tissue paper from her crying after rushing off to the bathroom to go have nothing but dry heaves. She was so sick and she didn't know why. She hadn't eaten anything different, if she had eaten anyhting Taro would have been feeling the same thing she figured.

Jesimae wanted to get up and go see how Taro was doing, but figured she was going to stay away from him until she got some sort of control over herself. If this was still going on by the time they reached the colony...she'd have to find a doctor to get this stomach problem under control.

[Taro Lawson]

It didn't take long for the silence of space to take over the ship, and by that time, Taro was feeling a little more relaxed. Of course, he wouldn't feel relaxed totally until this was all over and he and Jesimae could finally live a normal existence somewhere.

Taro leaned back in the chair, figuring he ought to give Jesimae her space. She was probably asleep by now. He would be. And if he wasn't careful he would fall asleep right where he sat. Which he supposed wouldn't be a bad thing. He pulled his knees up to his chest and watched the stars go by the ship.

How were they ever going to get out of this?

[Jesimae Lawson]

It was too late, she figured as she wandered out of the bathroom. The clock read 11 pm. She hadn't been disturbed by Taro and they had been flying all day. She was starving now and she had slept for over 12 hours. She was so tired still and her stomach was upset, and she was hungry, and she was lonely for Taro. She didn't like waking up having him gone it made her feel unsafe, which she figured why she couldn't really sleep well for she had gotten so used to having him there.

Jesimae's chest hurt from all the heaving she did and she was wanting some hot tea to soothe her throat and it was a safe thing for her stomach. She exited out of the stuffy bedroom and was so happy to feel the cool air hit her face in the hallway. She groaned as she sighed out wandering down the hall towards the kitchen unsure of where to go first, tea or Taro?

"Taro?" She called out, not feeling like walking all the way down the hall to the cockpit. "Baby?" She called out again. "Come entertain me." She laughed lightly, hissing the second she realized her stomach muscles couldn't handle it.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro had fallen asleep eventually and had slept on and off for a long time. When he heard Jesimae call out to him he stirrred and sat forward, rubbing his eyes. With a stretch, he stood up and yawned, his eyes watering a little.

He turned and saw her standing in the hall. He smiled, making his way down to where she stood. She looked harried. And he couldn't blame her. He smiled down at her, moving a bit of fluffled hair from her face.

"Are you feeling any better, dear heart?" he asked curiously. "You might have caught a bug of some kind or another." He looked her over. She didn't exactly look sick, but then again, it was hard for him to tell. He shook his head. "Unless you ate something."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae rolled her eyes not even wanting to think about food for her stomach hurt and yearned for it, but there was no way she would be eating anything that didn't taste as good coming back up.

"Well why aren't you in the bathroom on your knees? I could use some company in there." She smiled at him and walked into the kitchen and wandered around looking through some drawers wanting to find some green tea. "Sorry about earlier. Didn't mean to do that to you in the hover." She couldn't help but feel so sorry for him. Taro was being so good and the only way she could repay him was to puke all over his shirt and the taxi. Luckily the seat got the worst of it all.

"I just wanna know what it is. I think I'll check with the infirmary at the colony when we get there tomorrow, that is if I am still gagging up my stomach." She found a tin can and let out a noise of happiness, quickly take some leaves out followed by a mug, looking over her shoulder at Taro.

"Want some?" She asked him. The great thing about being married everything that was his, was now hers. It was kinda nice to be able to wander around on the ship knowing that she had no limitations anymore. Not that she was a snooper anyhow. It was just a comforting thought. "Sleep any?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro walked around the the table watching as she searched through things, after something. When she found it, she made a pleased noise and asked if he wanted any. He shook his head. He watched her begin to make tea before she asked him if he slept any. He shrugged.

"On and off..." he said. "I came in at one point and you were passed out. I didn't want to wake you so I alternated Jiro's bedroom and the cockpit," he explained. He watched as she boiled the water and began to make the tea. He took in a breath of the leaves that he could smell from the open bag of them.

"We ought to be at that colony in..." he looked at the chrono on the wall and thought a moment. "Just about another twelve hours." He furrowed his brow. "If all the calculations are right. I can't believe this thing is that unknown. Especially being so close to Coruscant."