No Greater Plan

Zeeana shivered as the cold night air began to set in. A land hover wasn't exactly the warmest place to be when the sun set on Callen III. The Lieutenant watched from the corner of his eye as the young woman hugged herself to keep herself warm and then pulled the land hover to a stop.

“What are you doing?” Zeeana began as the young man began to remove his jacket. “No, you are not going to give me your jacket Lieutenant. I won't let you.” she chided him, backing away as he moved to place the jacket around her.

He swept forward and managed to corner her in her seat and since she couldn't move any further any way he had the advantage over her. “Sorry, Senator. I have my orders.” he said with a grin.

Zeeana raised an eyebrow at him as he started the land hover back up, “Orders, to do what? Freeze to death?”

The Lieutenant laughed and pointed ahead, “I don't think I'll die before we get to your place we're not far from the homestead, see?”

Zeeana peered in the direction of the Lieutenant's finger and could just make out the shape of the combine harvester as she did so. “And you give me your coat now.” She laughed, “I could have waited until we got there you know, Lieutenant.”

Saunders shrugged and gave her a smile as he moved the hover off, “Well if it makes you feel better, my dear Senator, in return for my chivalry, I will be generous and allow you to make me something warm to drink when we arrive at our destination.”

The young Senator laughed and shook her head. “You're a bold one Lieutenant, I'll give you that.”

“So I'll take that as a yes then shall I?”

Zeeana grinned, “And if you're extra good I'll even make you something to eat. I don't know about you, Lieutenant, but I'm extremely hungry.”

“I second that motion, Senator. Food is always on the top of my list as a priority when working to protect young damsels such as your self from the evil fellows.”

“Good grief, Lieutenant, just drive...” Zeeana said with a laugh, “... and leave the humor to some one who's actually funny would you.”

Saunders gave her a grin and saluted as he steered the hover through the homestead's gates, stopping the vehicle by the harvester and turning it off again.

Turning to face her he grinned and she laughed, “No it didn't hurt, now get out of my mind, or you can fend for yourself.”

“As you so command.” he grinned saluting her yet again as he got out of the hover and went to assist her in getting out of the other side."So what culinary cuisine am I going to be tempted with?"

"I don' know yet. But I promise you, I'll make it worth your while. There's nothing that you can't eat is there?"

"Nothing that I know of."

"Good. Once we get inside, we can get you settled and then I'll go through the stores and throw something together."

"Sounds good to me. Thank you Senator. I appreciate you're going out of your way to make me feel at home."

Zeeana smiled gently at him. "It will be nice to have some company for a change. It's been fairly lonely since my father died." she informed him as she unlocked the door to the homestead and held the door open for him as he grabbed her senate things from the land hover and made his way inside.

"Where do you want these Senator?" he asked as she shut the door behind her on the way in.

Zeeana looked around and nodded to the small table under the stairwell. "There will do thank you, Lieutenant."

Saunders placed the paperwork onto the small table and then turned to face her. "Next?"

Zeeana nodded towards the stairs. "I'll show you to your room." she replied motioning for the young man to follow her up the stairs and to the second room along. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and slowly walked in.

Saunders walked in behind her and immediately sensed her anguish, "This room, it was your father's wasn't it?"

Zeeana whirled around to face him, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you feel that. I try not to let my emotions seep through, it's just that..." Suddenly she found herself with a finger to her lips and a soft smiling face looking down at her. "I understand, say no more. I am honored that you feel me worthy enough to have me stay in your father's room."

Zeeana gave him a meek smile back, "I don't think he would mind at all since you are protecting his little girl. He seemed to live for that one thing; protecting me. Both my parents did. I just wish I could understand why I was worth throwing their lives away for."

The Lieutenant watched as her hand moved across the covers of her father's bed. "The sheets are clean. I changed them the day he left." She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she stiffened momentarily, then relaxed.

"I'll go get my things and bring them up, then I'll help you in the kitchen if you like?" he smiled as she reached up and placed her hand over his.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I'd be glad of the help."

"Darien's fine. No more Lieutenant. Unless it's Senate or similar business. Okay?"

Zeeana looked up at him and smiled, "Zee, then. No more Senator unless it's for the same reasons."

He twirled her by the hand back to face him and kissed her on the forehead. "Agreed," he grinned as she blushed, "I'll go get my things and meet you in the kitchen."

She watched as he turned and walked out of the room, her hand automatically reaching up and touching the place he had softly rested his lips. She blushed again and shook her head, before leaving the room herself and heading down to the kitchen.

~*~

Half an hour had passed since they had arrived at the homestead and the sweet smell of home cooking was now wafting into the softly lit lounge area. Darien stood by the kitchen sink cutting up the home made bread Zeeana had made earlier in the day. Zeeana had just finished laying the plates and cutlery out on the table in the middle of the kitchen,where they would be eating. She had barely turned back to ask if Saunders needed a hand when she saw the knife slip and heard him yelp.

Dropping the knife into the sink, he grabbed his finger and immediately sucked on it, wincing from the pain.

"You shouldn't do that, it could actually cause infection from the bacteria in your mouth."

He stared at her as she walked up to him, "Here, let me see it." she said as she reached for his hand pulling it away from his mouth.

Reluctantly the Lieutenant, let her take his hand and grimaced as she inspected every little inch of the wound. "Nasty." she noted biting her bottom lip. "But I have just the thing. Go wash it under the water and then come back here to the table. I'm going to have to sterilize it and then seal it."

Darien raised an eyebrow questioningly.

She looked up at him and smiled sincerely. "Just trust me on this."

He sighed and did as she had asked him.

Zeeana in the mean time opened a small cupboard embedded into the wall on the far side of the kitchen, pulled out a med pack and the two met up again at the table. She opened the pack and pulled out some ointment and then holding out her hand the Lieutenant once more put himself at her mercy.

Zeeana tended to the wound, gently wiping some ointment into the cut and grinned as the Lieutenant bit his top lip and then, holding two fingers up to her forehead so that her palm was facing right, she closed her eyes and concentrated, while holding his finger gently in the palm of her right hand.

A soft blue aura enveloped her hand and Saunders gasped as he felt a warm tingling ache in and around the wound. A few moments later Zeeana opened her eyes and released his finger from her hand.

He stared at it in awe. It was as if there had ever been an injury. "You..." he began a little taken aback, "...you have the gift of healing?"

"As you have just seen for yourself."

"Isn't this dangerous, Zee? If the empire did get their hands on you there would be a second reason to exploit your powers. "

Zeeana shrugged. "Only if the healing power is over exerted, I can only heal minor injuries the more serious the injury the more life force it uses; at worst if forced to reinstate another's life it could kill me. You're the only person who knows about this Darien. My father knew before his death, but kept it to himself."

"What did he think of that?"

"I have to admit he wasn't happy, but I only promised him I would never use the power of the force, but I never once promised not to further my healing gift. So I practiced on injured animals out in the fields where no one else could see."

Darien glanced again at his finger and then back at Zeeana, "Thank you, Zee, but... but just be careful, alright?"

She smiled and returned the med pack to it's rightful place, then walked back over to him, "Don't worry Darien, I've always been very careful with my gift. Anyway, after we've eaten I'll show you around the fields as we do the boundary sweep."

The Lieutenant gave her a curious stare as he returned to the sink. She needed no other prompting.

"We just go out and check that the boundaries are secure and that everything is in place before shutting down the machinery and retiring for the night. Simple, really."

"What happens if we find any nasty surprises lurking?"

Zeeana grinned. "I get to see you in action, obviously."

"Obviously..." he chuckled back. "Well, I guess if I'm going to be fighting off all the nasties, we should get a move on."

"I guess we should." She grinned handing him a clean bread knife.

~*~