General Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, KotOR, or anything else of value. Nor will do I claim ownership of anything that may appear in later chapters.
Alora Star was slumped on her desk, datapad in hand, head down, and obviously asleep. It wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence these days—back from a year in the Unknown Regions and working her ass off just to stop thinking about…nevermind. She'd graciously offered to handle the good Admiral's paperwork while he and Chala spent their honeymoon planet-side; in their eyes, she was doing them a gigantic favor, in hers though…it had been a rather selfish offer.
Mira and Bao-Dur had been on Citadel Station to greet Alora when she and Chala, formerly known as Reven, returned, and Mandalore had mysteriously showed up not long after, though she suspected he was there to see Chala more than her. Most of Chala's friends were also there, and if they weren't, it didn't take them long to get there. As soon as they heard the news, Visas and Mical had flown in from Dantooine where they were setting up a new Jedi enclave. "Atton?" they had said when she asked. He helped with the rebuilding, showing up with lost holocrons, flawless crystals for lightsabers, and plenty of force sensitive recruits, but…they never knew when, and they never knew where he was going to or coming from.
Alora told herself that she shouldn't have expected him to be there, waiting; it wasn't his nature and she left him to wait first, or not to wait, she supposed. They weren't even a couple, like Chala and Carth; she was being unreasonable, but those words were much easier to say than believe, especially four months later. So she threw herself into work for others' benefit, even to the point of falling asleep at her desk.
~*v*~
At that very moment, a nondescript ship was waiting to dock at Citadel Station. All the visas and registrations had checked out, and there was a single life-sign onboard—a very nervous life-sign, although no computer could pick that up.
Atton Rand was shuffling his pazaak deck aimlessly in the cockpit of that ship. There was a crate of Jedi texts in the cargo hold that some greedy pirate had planned to sell back to their rightful owners for a fortune in credits. Atton had been quite proud of the heist, but the texts were worthless in comparison to the news he'd heard as returned from the idiot's private moon on the very outer edge of the Outer Rim. Alora is back. What did a bunch of musty old datapads matter?
He had immediately set course for Telos and Citadel Station, and it was a wonder that the small ship wasn't pulled apart by the speeds he pushed it to in his impatience. He wished now, though, that he had taken a little more time. After all, what claim did he, the fool, have to Alora Star? Sure, he'd done his share of…admiring, and she'd done her share of calling him out on it. He'd flirted, and she sometimes flirted back. He'd never said anything about how he actually felt though, much less found out if his feelings were reciprocated. In fact, she probably didn't feel anything for him and he had rushed to Telos for no reason at all, he mused, all the while shuffling his cards.
Before he had a chance to turn around and hightail it to Nar Shaddaa, the comm announced that the ship was cleared to dock and Atton steered her into the indicated bay. He supposed he needed fuel anyway. There was the slight jolt of the ship's landing gear meeting the deckplates, and he stood up with a sigh from the pilot's chair, stuffing his cards into a pocket.
~*v*~
Alora's eyes began to flutter open as something roused her from her sleep, then she jolted upright as she realized what that something was. She quickly squashed the hope that flared, reminding herself that she had dreamt his presence into being several times before, only to be crushed when she saw the empty hallway. A deep breath in and a slow breath out, she pushed back from the desk and padded softly to the door. A pained expression briefly flashed across her face as she hesitated, her hand hovering over the door control. Was it real this time? She could feel him outside the door—the emotional cloud he hid himself in: fear, lust, anxiety. No anger, though…he always used to have anger in that cloud. Brushing past the shield to the surface thoughts, she could hear him playing pazaak in his head…+3 brings the total to 19…
No. It was like this last time, too. And the time before that. And the first time her imagination and wishful thinking got the better of her. She stared at her hand, paused in mid-reach.
~*v*~
Atton paced in the hallway outside the Admiral's Suite, which he was told was the current residence of Alora Star, administrative assistant. Grapevine had already told him that she was effectively the Admiral while the real Admiral was on leave after his wedding and that she'd been loaned his luxury quarters as thanks. Although, it was the middle of the night for the residents of Citadel Station, 0230 to be exact, and the grapevine currently consisted of a few night shift paper-pushers. He might've gotten more from a stop in the Entertainment Module, but, instead, he was here. She was probably sleeping. Any sane person would be. The only reason she would not be asleep right now…What if she was… It would only take a quick sweep with his Force senses to determine how many presences were behind that door and their emotional state. Yet, he didn't reach out—because she was sleeping. He could lie to himself if wanted to, damnit! But it wasn't lying because...oh…he just didn't know.
He ran a hand through his hair as he sighed in frustration. Why was he here, anyway? The intelligent, and polite, thing to do would have been to wait on the ship until morning. But he was here in front of her door and…when had he reached out toward the buzzer? He stared at his hand.
~*v*~
He felt so real. She had to know, for sure. Alora took a deep breath in and opened the door, just as a chime sounded.
~*v*~
Alora was inside that room. Knowing that, Atton couldn't walk away. He pressed the buzzer, just as the door whooshed open.
A/N: So begins Harmony... I'm in the process of writing Chapter 3, and then I'll post the Chapter 2 and 3 together. Unfortunately, I'm also working on another story, so I don't know how long it will take. But I will NOT abandon this.
A/N 2: And a post post-script-How fast I finish chapter 3 depends on which universe I'm most into. Reviews would probably get me into a KOTOR mood...hint-hint...