For a time, Jupiter tries to return to her normal human life, juggling her house-cleaning job during the day and her newfound position as galaxial royalty at night, not to mention her toe-curlingly satisfying new relationship with Caine all of which leaves her very little time for sleep. It works for a while, but after only a few months, pressing matters of state seem too numerous to manage as a mere after-thought.

Jupiter realizes that she's in danger of a serious mental burn-out on the day Vladie innocently pulls her pigtail when she's fallen asleep at the dinner table, and in her startled semi-conscious daze she nearly decapitates him with her butter knife. In her copious free time, Caine has also been teaching her some basic legion self-defense moves since they aren't quite sure Titus won't make another move some day in the future. It's when Vladie is sitting on the floor looking stricken and she is apologizing profusely that she realizes she can't continue to go on this way.

She feels strangely off-balance, uncomfortable even, like her own skin no longer fits her. Caine helps her, he somehow always knows what to do and exactly what she needs. A part of her (the part that speaks of love and loss with her mother's voice) had worried that when they'd returned to Earth after their adventure things would be different between them. Part of her was concerned that maybe she and Caine had fallen in love too quickly, under such extreme and ridiculous circumstances that there wouldn't be anything real underneath the fiery passion. She'd been wrong, of course. He is perfect, and her heart is full of him.

What she needs right now is more time, time to decide who she is now, how to proceed from here, time to learn all there is to know about her new and expanded universe. Caine figures out how to give this to her. They tell her family that she's applied for a paid internship studying astrology through her father's old observatory, Caine even arranges for documents and a paper trail to confirm the arrangement should anyone investigate. Jupiter will be gone all summer, studying the Aurora Borealis in Alaska (too far away for her family to manage a visit).

In reality, she and Caine spend the summer at the Apini's farmhouse. Stinger is the nearest to family that Caine ever had before Jupiter, and he welcomes them both with open arms. Jupiter is grateful to him; for saving Caine's life after Titus fed him to the void and for helping break through the warhammers to rescue her. She is grateful especially that he took responsibility during the court-marshal years before Jupiter met either of them, sparing Caine from execution. Maybe she's becoming hopelessly romantic and soppy, but she can't imagine her life without Caine in it now or ever, and she honestly doesn't want to. She may not have everything figured out just yet, but she knows that much.

Kiza is a wonderful teacher, she has a brilliant mind for facts and figures. In the morning, they spend hours pouring over universal history books far more complex than those Jupiter remembers from her high school days. Kiza also helps her understand her financial status, her investments, various holdings and responsibilities. Now that she has the time to learn, Jupiter comprehends for the first time the vastness of her new world and the staggering possibilities of her own place within it.

In the afternoons, when her eyes begin to cross and her brain begins to muddle from the dryness of her "lessons", Caine takes her outside into the sunshine and continues her self-defense. She's actually getting pretty good she thinks to herself as she tucks and rolls quickly avoiding one of his attacks.

Sometimes, when Caine is away on Aegis business, Stinger takes up the role of teacher. He doesn't teach her hand-to-hand combat like Caine does, he teaches her how to fire a weapon, lots of them actually, of all different types. She thinks she's getting pretty decent at those too, but Stinger doesn't say.

Stinger doesn't say much at all actually, not to her. With Kiza and Caine he's open and jovial even, their dinnertime conversations often devolving into raucous laughter as Stinger and Caine alternate re-telling of wild tales from their Legionaire days. Jupiter is happy to listen and laugh along, but she can't help but feel like an outsider in their cozy little family unit. It's only been a few weeks, these things take time she tells herself, and Caine is so happy here and she herself feels lighter, so she ignores the quiet tendrils of worry that slink along the back of her subconscious.

They've been there for six weeks and it's the middle of July when she notices that Kiza is coughing again. At first, Jupiter believes it merely a summer cold or allergies, but she soon realizes how foolish her assumption is when she sees the worry on Stinger's face. In private, she asks Caine what "the bug" is. She's horrified when he explains: Kiza has a parasite that lives inside her lungs, slowly eating the healthy oxygen-processing tissue, causing her to gradually asphyxiate inside her own body. She'll need infusions of Regen-X every few months for the rest of her life to slow the parasite's progress and allow her reasonably comfortable breathing. Kiza is young and vibrant, the little sister Jupiter never got to have, and it breaks her heart to imagine that Kiza's entire life will be filled with this pain.

She asks Caine why the parasite can't simply be removed with such an advanced civilization. It can be he answers, but only The Entitled have access to that level of specialized medical care and only on the central planets. Jupiter smiles then, because now she understands better how this universe works, Kiza has taught her that, and she knows she can find a way. It takes nearly three weeks, hundreds of communications back and forth with inter-galactic advocate Bob, and a half-million C's, but Jupiter finally holds the communiqué in her hand; Kiza's surgical order.

Jupiter waits until Stinger is alone, finding him sitting on the back porch after dinner staring out into the darkness across the corn fields. Caine and Kiza are washing the dishes, laughing and joking inside, arguing like brother and sister and eventually, Jupiter thinks, escalating into a modified water fight more than accomplishing any actual chores. She can't help but smile at the thought because seeing Caine so at-ease, so carefree, makes her heart ache with joy in the same powerful and primal way that his enunciation of "Your Majesty" makes other body parts ache.

"This came for you today" she says, sitting down beside Stinger on the stoop and handing him the letter

He takes it from her hand, opening it and angling it toward the dimly glowing porch light so he can read the contents. Jupiter can tell when he gets to the part that matters because he sucks in his breath suddenly, but he says nothing. When he gets to the bottom of the page, his eyes move to the top again, re-reading each word carefully for a second time.

"You are her father" Jupiter starts slowly, watching his face as he reads and re-reads the sheet of paper "I understand if you don't want her to have the surgery, it you think it's too dangerous" she says "I don't know anything about the safety or the risk or anything about how these things work on any planet besides Earth" she explains "I just wanted you to know that she CAN have the surgery, if that's what's best for her"

He's silent for several minutes more, and Jupiter wonders if she should leave him here to absorb the information alone. Stinger is a proud man, this she understands about him, but surely he wouldn't refuse the gift, not for Kiza? Surely he understands how much his hospitality and his family have meant to her? How this is merely a small way of repaying their kindness to her?

"How did you do this?" Stinger asks finally, turning his head to look at her

"I happen to have a really smart policies and practices teacher" Jupiter answers, trying to keep it casual "And one who's taught me that there's always a loophole to every law "

"Why did you do this?" he asks

Jupiter wonders that he doesn't know, but then she opens her mouth to speak and the words do not find her. She wants to say that she's come to love Kiza as her own, that it hurts to see her suffer. She wants to say that the look in Stinger's eyes, the pain on his face as he watches his daughter struggle, stabs into her chest and makes her hurt for him. She wants to say that Caine is theirs and she is his now. But it all sounds too big and unwieldy and she doesn't think Stinger would appreciate her overly-emotional musings, so in the end she settles for a gross over-simplification.

"Because you're his family" she answers "And I had the power to do it"

What she doesn't understand yet, what she doesn't recognize within herself, is that she's already begun to think of them as her family.

Stinger seems to accept her words, "Thank you" he says simply, his voice even thicker than usual, with a trace of something behind his eyes that Jupiter can't quite place.

"You're welcome" she answers, just as simply

Kiza leaves at the beginning of August. She'll be gone for an entire month accounting for the pre- and post-op hospitalization. Jupiter hugs her fiercely as Captain Tsing waits above on the transport ship (apparently there's some concern about security and the Aegis aren't taking any chances, which makes Jupiter worry less).

"What am I going to do without you?" Jupiter asks "Who is going to help me with my studies?" she grumbles, trying to mask the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes with false irritation.

"I've left you lesson plans on the table in the office" Kiza says, returning the hug "Besides, you've got Dad, and where do you think I learned it all from to begin with?"

Caine ruffles her hair playfully and then Kiza is gone. It's a little lonely in the house without her, and the dynamic has definitely shifted. Jupiter spends her mornings inside by herself dutifully pouring over the assignments Kiza has left for her, while the boys play outside. Stinger is currently on a break from active duty with the Marshals (medical leave for Kiza) so he and Caine spend a fair amount of time sparing, training, blowing things up out past the corn field.

In the afternoon, Stinger comes inside to work on Aegis paperwork: planetary visa requests, supply requisitions, travel approvals, etc. and Jupiter goes outside to spend time with Caine. It turns out, he's really pretty handy. The farm house is kinda dilapidated and slowly he's been fixing it up. Already this summer he's re-hung the porch swing (and sanded and repainted it), repaired the screen door, fixed three broken steps, and now he's up on the roof, replacing damaged shingles (which is ALL of them).

Jupiter lays beside where he works on the roof (safely out of nail gun range), warm sun on her face, reading today's assigned chapters and taking the practice quiz she's been left. She talks to Kiza almost every day, and Kiza returns her corrected quizzes with smiley faces and "well done" stickers which remind Jupiter of kindergarten and make her smile widely. It's a beautiful life and she sighs with quiet contentment.

But something gnaws at the back of her mind – Stinger is different since Kiza left. He has always been quiet around her, aloof even, his eyes never quite rising to meet hers, always held slightly below. Jupiter had always assumed it was a royalty-thing. She's managed to mostly break him of calling her "Your Majesty", but he's never seemed quite comfortable around her. Looking back in hindsight, Jupiter can see now that he'd always made certain never to find himself alone with her, even before Kiza left, but now that it is just the three of them it is more glaringly noticeable.

The chill between them makes her uneasy and she can't say quite why. Caine doesn't seem to notice, so she says nothing to him. She feels as though something hides in the darkness, waiting to lash-out and destroy this newfound contentment, it sends prickles up her spine although she can not logically articulate why. She is so close to having everything she has always wanted, to belonging to a place and to the people in it.

Jupiter tries to ask him one night, when Caine has gone to town for pizza. Since Kiza left, the three have taken to alternating cooking duties which is very sad indeed since Jupiter has never considered herself much of a domestic goddess and Caine and Stinger are both soldiers with very low standards when it comes to what is edible. Right now she finds herself making-due with pizza or Chinese at least four times a week. God, she misses Kiza and her home-cooked meals! But right now, Caine is out picking up the extra cheese mushroom and pepperoni, so she takes the opportunity to speak with Stinger alone.

She finds him in his office, standing at the window looking out across the skyline. Good, she isn't interrupting his work. Watching his silhouette, she can see the instant he realizes she is there, because he tenses almost imperceptibly. If she hadn't been studying him so carefully, she never would have noticed, but now she knows her instincts are right.

"Have I done something to upset you?" she asks quietly, leaning against the doorjamb.

"No, of course not" he answers quickly, too quickly really, turning around to face her

Jupiter takes a few steps forward, coming more fully into the room now "It just seems like you've been avoiding me" she explains "Like you find excuses to disappear whenever I'm around"

He doesn't deny her accusation or offer any explanation, his eyes remaining unreadable as he holds them low "I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way" he apologizes and Jupiter believes that he means it "Your Majesty is most welcome in my home, in my family"

Something in his placating tone, in his choice of words, makes her want to hit him, hard. He is patronizing her, not exactly lying to her, but nor is he telling her the truth, and it makes anger flare up her inside her. She isn't an idiot, she can see that something is wrong between them, she just doesn't know what. How can she repair it if she doesn't know what it is? And it occurs to her as her temper rises, bringing color to her cheeks, that repairing it truly matters to her, that her relationship with Stinger is important to her.

She has the irrational desire to stomp her feet and throw a tantrum like a five-year-old and demand that he tell her what his fucking problem is. And as she entertains the absurdity of the thought for a moment, she realizes that it isn't quite so ridiculous. If she can't break him of his deference to her royalty, she can at least use it to her advantage just this once.

"As your queen, if I ordered you to tell me, would you?" she asks, watching him carefully

"Of course" he answers quietly, eyes still downcast

Jupiter isn't good at reading Stinger like she's become at reading Caine, but it might have been fear that she saw flicker across his eyes, and it makes her feel ashamed of herself for pushing so hard.

"I can't fix it, if you don't tell me" she tries once again, more gently this time.

"The short-coming is mine, not yours. I promise" he replies, his eyes rising to meet hers this time, the certainty of truth shining within them.

"If you say" she answers with quiet defeat, turning and going out onto the porch to wait for Caine, tucking her legs underneath her body and swinging herself on the porch swing. She feels inexplicably uneasy.

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tbc