"Why?"

Carth looked up from working on the hyperdrive to see Revan hovering in the doorway, fiddling a little with her uniform. "Why what?" he wanted to know.

"Why do you love me?" Reven demanded. "After all, you know who I am. Or was."

"What sort of a question is that?" Carth asked, frowning slightly. "I love you. Does there have to be a reason why?"

"Well, there has to be a reason why," Revan replied. "After all, you have plenty of reason to hate me. So does everyone else."

Carth tilted his head to one side with a quizzical expression. "Is it so difficult to believe that someone loves you for who you are now... Not who you were once?"

"Yes!"

Carth looked at the hyperdrive he was working on, and heaved an inaudible sigh. It looked like he wasn't going to get them off the ground until he and Revan had talked, so he straightened and walked over to her, then stood looking down at her. More than anything, he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her tightly. But he wasn't sure if she wanted that.

Revan looked up at Carth with an almost pleading expression, then said in a low voice, "Bastila's offer did tempt me."

"I think it would have tempted any of us," Carth answered immediately. "Even those not sensitive to the Force can be tempted by evil. Like Saul." There was a slight tightening around his mouth as he said Saul's name.

"But... You didn't even trust me to begin with," Revan protested weakly.

Carth raised his eyebrows. "You know the reason for that," he told her. "I explained it to you. After Saul's betrayal, I've had trouble trusting anyone. But I trust you now."

"But I don't know why!" Revan protested. "Why do you trust me? Why do you love me? You know who I am! You have every reason to hate Revan..."

"But I don't," Carth interrupted, gently placing a finger against Revan's lips to forestall any protests. "Saul betrayed me, and now he is dead. There's no room left in my heart for any more hatred."

Revan hesitated, then slowly extended a hand to Carth, who quickly grabbed it in both of his. He raised her hand to his lips, and gently brushed his lips over the top of it.

Tears began shimmering in Revan's eyes, threatening to fall.

Carth sighed softly, and gently lowered Revan's hand. "Oh, come here." He wrapped his arms around Revan, and held her tightly against him.

Revan pressed her face into Carth's chest, and let the tears fall. She cried out all of her fear and pain and sadness while Carth stroked her hair and murmured cmoforting, soothing words in her ear.

Finally, Revan stopped crying. As crying often does, it made her feel at least a little better. But she still kept her arms around Carth, wanting to be held still.

Carth rocked her gently, soothingly, like he might a small child. "It's going to be all right," he told her.

"It's not going to be all right!" Revan wailed. "It's never going to be all right! I'm Revan, the old dark lord of the sith. I'm a murderer!"

"You're not anymore!" Carth said with a slight edge to his tone. "That's in the past! It's not who you are now!"

"What makes you so sure of that?" Revan demanded. "She might still be... inside me. I might become her again."

"I don't think you will," Carth replied. "You resisted what Bastila said, after all, didn't you?"

"But what if..."

"Don't worry about it," Carth whispered. "It doesn't matter." With that, he tipped her chin up, and kissed her gently, stopping any more talk.