Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars. I am not making any profit from this work of fanfiction.

Author's note: This chapter went through several incarnations and tortured its author for several days. Special thanks to Kelaria for aiding, abetting, and giving feedback during the process.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When Evinne and Makesh had gone, suddenly it was just the two of them, genuinely alone in a way they hadn't been in what felt like forever.

So in spite of everything, Ryn grinned in relief, meeting Anakin's eyes over the back of the sofa. Small favors, she thought. I'll take them.

She eased her shields, finally, with a gasp of relief for the sudden release of psychic tension.

Anakin took the invitation this presented and relaxed his own shields - different, built somehow with the Force - and probed her gently, cautiously penetrating her mind.

Ryn let her eyes drift shut in pleasure. "I swear you've gotten better."

"Nah. You just missed me."

Ryn smiled. "So I did." She tickled him back and grinned at his response.

"Mmm ..."

The relief of not having to work at maintaining barriers - the heady yet familiar feeling of Anakin in her mind - was better than sleep. Unfortunately, Ryn still needed plenty of that, so she sighed and dragged her eyes open again.

"Shower, then bed," she told Anakin. "You need anything?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm going to com Obi-Wan and update him."

"Okay."

Ryn left him standing in the living area to grab clean underwear and hit the shower.

In the conspicuous absence of more Coruscanti-appropriate nightwear, Ryn stuck to her usual bedtime uniform of black undies and a lot of white skin.

She felt some trepidation about Anakin's reaction - she kept seeing his face watching the Podracing holos on the way to Borsana Prime, all over again - but she wasn't crazy about wearing her clothes to bed, even if half of them weren't still in the 'fresher unit on the deep-cleaning cycle (they'd taken a beating during her unexpectedly active evening). And if Anakin couldn't manage to accept her in her own skin ... Then I might as well learn it now as later.

She took a deep breath for courage and palmed open the 'fresher door.

"Anakin," she began tentatively. She'd been going to say something - assuming he didn't just start yelling - about going to bed, but then she lost her focus, because Anakin came to his feet like a soldier coming to attention, uttering an inarticulate noise somewhere between fear and appreciation.

His signature was ... enthusiastic ... so Ryn decided he probably wasn't offended this time.

"If that means 'wow', then ... thanks."

Anakin said something, actual words this time, albeit not in Basic. Fortunately Ryn's limited Huttese was concentrated heavily in the range of colorful euphemisms; she knew enough to recognize the expression as meaning, roughly: Fuck yeah.

In the long term, things still looked pretty grim.

In the short term, however ... Anakin liked her (mostly) naked.

Small favors. I'll take them.

But she couldn't stay here savoring the moment forever. For one thing, they really did have things to do, and for another, that was bound to get awkward sooner rather than later. So: "We should really get to bed," she said dutifully. "We have time for a couple of two-hour shifts each."

Anakin finally made his way back to intelligible Basic: "I'll stay here. Keep watch."

Ryn shook her head. "If something does happen tonight, I'd rather we were in the same room. I'll sleep on the floor if -"

"No," Anakin said quickly. "The bed is fine. I'll take the first shift, watching."

Ryn eased her weight from one foot to the other. "Are you sure? Because I can -"

"It's fine," Anakin repeated, his voice a little tight. "Let's just ... do it."

Ryn nodded and swallowed, heading for the bedroom.

She felt Anakin's eyes on her back - okay, mostly on her ass - all the way to the bed.

But when he kicked off his boots and stretched out on top of the covers beside her, she sighed and sank gratefully into his arms and forgave him all his prudery, because he was warm and strong and Anakin, and his presence was quite possibly the only thing in the galaxy that could bring her any comfort tonight.

"Thank you for coming," she whispered into his tunic. "I know you don't feel ... entirely comfortable ... but I'm glad you're here."

"Of course I'm comfortable," Anakin said, lying bravely and not very effectively. "Now who's worrying too much?"

"Anakin," Ryn said reproachfully. "I know you ... you think ... well, maybe you don't know quite what to make of me. The way I look at sex. But I ... I mean, I'd never ... what I'm trying to say is, I know how you feel about it, and I respect that. You can trust me."

"Ryn, stop. No, you don't." Ryn started to sit up, her mouth dry, too offended to even form the words how dare you in her mind; but Anakin's grip tightened on her, not letting her go anywhere. "Don't know how I feel," he clarified, and Ryn, still tense, stopped straining against his hold on her shoulders. "It's not you I don't trust." His voice veered off into miserable: "It's me."

Huh? Ryn frowned at his tunic, trying to make sense of this conversation. "I don't understand," she said decidedly. "You're the one who doesn't want to have sex. Why the hell would you try anything?"

Anakin didn't quite flinch, but she felt him tense. "I know I shouldn't," he said deliberately. "I never said I didn't want to."

Oh. Oh. Ohhhh ... "Oh," Ryn said finally, her voice very small and hoarse. She levered herself up on an elbow under Anakin's relaxing grip to risk a cautious glance at his face. "I thought you didn't ... I mean ..."

"Yeah, well, I do." Anakin shifted a little. "It's complicated, okay? And ... it's late. So ..."

"Sleep," Ryn said quickly. "Right. Timing. Just ... wake me up when it's my turn to watch, okay?"

"Yeah," Anakin said, pulling her close again. "Okay."