"You didn't have to walk me back." Terra thanked Tycho as they entered her rather spacious hotel room.

"Maybe I want to spend some time with you without the crowds." he said.

"Figured you would be used to the crowds by now. After all, you're a hero of the New Republic," she teased.

He chuckled and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Maybe, but I can't do this with a crowd around. I really do miss you, you know." They had always felt safe when the other was near. It was not surprising considering what they had been through together.

She pulled back enough to look into his face. "I miss you, too. I know I told you this morning I was proud of you but when I saw you fly today... You really have become a terrific pilot. But then again, you always were."

He beamed uncomfortably under her praise. "You, too. I wonder what it would have been like if you had been a Rogue."

She thought about it for a moment and then buried her face in his shoulder laughing uncontrollably. "Poor Wedge," was all she could manage to say.

He returned her laughter, "Yeah, he probably would have had a nervous breakdown by now."

She grew serious again as she held him tightly. "I wish we could've been together, too. But it just wasn't possible. I could not have gone with you any more than you could have stayed with me." She thought about the last time they saw each other. He was standing on the boarding ramp for the shuttle that would take him to the Alliance and untold danger.

But they both knew the dangers of his staying with the Guardiens. Their friendship was too well known. It was inevitable that someone would come looking for him after he went AWOL from the Empire. They just never imagined it would be his former instructor, Baron Soontir Fel.

He spoke softly into her hair, "You never told me what you said to him. I asked when he was with the Rogues, but he wouldn't tell me, either."

"It's not important. I just convinced him I hadn't seen you."

"I could hear the two of you arguing from the next room." When she wouldn't answer, he decided it was time to ask a question that had been on his mind for years. "I never figured out how you were able to find me when I left the Empire or when..." his voice trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to think about the first time she had rescued him.

She sighed heavily and stepped away from him. She took his hand and led him to the couch. They sat, holding hands, as she looked into his eyes. "I should have told you this years ago, but I didn't want to put you in danger. If anyone found out, it would've meant your death."

Tycho was confused. What could she possibly know that would mean the death penalty?

"It is a secret I have always been proud of, even though it was something I could never share until recently. I haven't told anyone.

"Until now...." She hesitated briefly. "My father, his father, and my older brother, Marx, were all Jedi. My father wasn't trained in the temple so he escaped notice during the purges."

Everything began to fall into place for Tycho. Things she had done; things she had known. It all made sense to him now. "You're a Jedi?" he asked, startled.

She was pleased she could still surprise him after all these years. "No, not even close. I am sensitive to the Force but nowhere near strong enough to ever become a Jedi. I can sense danger sometimes and I can increase my own naturally quick healing abilities. I also have a mental link with my family and close friends."

"So, you can tell what I'm thinking?"

"I can't read your thoughts per se, but I can sense emotions. I can also use the link to track you. That's how I've been able to know when you needed me and where to find you." She thought about how much she wanted to tell him. "'Some people also have a very distinct presence. I could probably pick out Wedge in a crowded room, for instance. And Corran, too."

When she spoke the name Corran, Tycho looked at her sharply. She was watching his reactions closely. "Corran's a Jedi. Isn't he?" she asked.

"He's been keeping that pretty quiet. Only a few people outside the squadron know."

She reached up and stroked his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Don't worry, I won't say a thing. His secret helps keep you safe so his secret is my secret."

He turned his face to kiss her hand before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close again. He leaned down to kiss her but she pulled away, regret evident in her eyes.

"There's something else we need to discuss," she told him quietly. "It's the real reason I'm here."

Tycho waited patiently, not sure if he wanted to hear what she had to say.

She handed him a holo that had been sitting on the table beside the couch. It was of Terra with a young girl of about eight standard years. He felt drawn to the girl and took a closer look. She favored Terra but her hair was dark blond and her eyes were a stunning blue.

The same shade of blue as his.

He raised his eyes to meet Terra's and she nodded. "I didn't find out until after you left. I wanted to tell you, but this isn't exactly something I could put in a letter. She's strong in the Force, too," Terra added proudly.

He sat in stunned silence, unsure how to react to the news that he had a daughter. He looked around the room, expecting to find her.

"She's not here," Terra told him. "She's at our main base. I wanted to talk to you, first."

"Guess this explains why you haven't spent much time in the field the last few years," Tycho commented. "What's her name?"

She smiled, "I decided to call her L.A., or Ella, for Little Angel."

Tycho returned her heart-felt smile. "After you, G.A.?"

A look of pain flashed across her face. "I wish you wouldn't call me that. I haven't done a very good job of earning it the last decade. I don't feel like I deserve it."

"That's nonsense, Terra. And you know it. Without you, I... I don't want to think about where I would be right now," he finished softly.

"But I wasn't there for you when you needed me. When you were on the Lusankya and everyone thought you were dead, I knew you weren't. Not like so many others who just didn't want to believe. I knew you were alive. But I couldn't do anything."

Tycho wasn't sure he followed. He had found out later that Terra and her mother had been in a shuttle accident just as he was being taken to Lusankya. Her mother had been killed but Terra was unconscious for close to six months due to the severity of her injuries. She was another year in rehab, relearning how to walk and talk.

Unshed tears were in her eyes as she continued. "Do you know how helpless that feeling is? I knew where you were, what you were going through but I couldn't even open my eyes. I wanted to tell someone, anyone, but I couldn't."

She stood and walked to the viewport, hoping to hide the tears that were beginning to fall.

Tycho stood and followed her. He put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into his warm presence as her arm circled his waist. They stood silently for a short time before she turned and put both arms around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder, drawing strength from his nearness. Her guilt-ridden tears began to soak through his tunic.

He thought about some of the things Corran had told him about how some Jedi had the ability to leave their bodies and project their consciousness to other places. "This is going to sound hard to believe... There were times when I felt like you were there with me. I'm not sure I could have held together without that."

She smiled against his chest, "You don't give yourself enough credit. You're stronger than you think."

He lifted her chin until she looked him in the eyes as he gently wiped tears from her cheeks. This time, she didn't pull away when he bent to kiss her.

Continued in Part 2:3