a/n – Sorry I'm not posting as often as I'd like, I started school again this week and I work full-time so time is precious. At present, I'm sitting at my work computer trying to get some writing in during my lunch break.

Thank you to vampgirliegirl and the guest who have commented. Please review and let me know what you think.

Chapter 9 – Back to the Crest

Ter'a wanted to feel bad about killing the Chiss and she felt through the Force that the Mandalorian felt bad for asking her to do it, but she knew it needed to be this way. If they made too much noise, they were almost certain to have the whole of Project H's most unsavory characters upon them. As it was, once they left Sio's house, someone was certain to discover his body quickly and she and the Mandalorian needed to be out of the Project by then.

As the Mandalorian grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the exit she thought about Sio's words and knew that he was telling the truth. His fear was strong, she'd felt it, but he didn't lie. The people on Coruscant who knew about the Mandalorian's transgressions against Gideon were now all dead.

They reached the staircase and the Mandalorian, who still had hold of her arm led her up the stairs, not down, which tore her from her musings.

"Wait," she said, "we need to go down."

"No," he said letting go of her arm now that she had returned to herself. "They all know we're here and soon enough they'll know about the Chiss' body. I want to go to the roof so we have the high ground."

She caught on and together they began to sprint up to the roof… another twelve floors above them.

She was lighter on her feet and had less armor than Dyn, so Ter'a maintained a distance advantage on him that enabled her to keep a look out with the Force and her other senses, and he was able to watch their flank, but they didn't see anyone until they'd reached the tenth floor. And unfortunately, due to the welcome they received from an overly ambitious Utapaun on the tenth-floor landing, it seemed that the whole Project knew what had happened. Dyn was stunned for a moment by the suddenness of the blue light filling the hallway and subsequently shocked to see the Utapaun's head rolling down the stairs at his feet.

They continued to fight their way to the rooftop where they broke through from a skylight unceremoniously and ran in the direction of the street head. Ter'a was fast, he thought. Faster than he was, and she was able to jump the fifteen-foot gaps between the housing blocks with ease and land on her feet on the other side. Dyn had only to fire his weapon a few times to cover her flank as she seemed to cut down anyone in her way in the blink of an eye. I was right, Dyn thought as he used his jet pack to jump the sixth gap, she's great in a fight…

Ter'a skidded to a halt at the end of the last housing block and looked down to the street fifteen floors below. She crouched and looked behind her to see the Mandalorian jumping the second to last gap, run the length of the block and jump the final gap. She could hear gunfire and yells in the homes below as the inhabitants ran about in a chaotic frenzy to find the Mandalorian and his companion. She felt confident that no one knew where they were, but she also knew they'd keep looking until they found someone that resembled their quarry. They had to get out of here…

The Mandalorian slid to a halt behind her, his breath coming in gasps through his helmet. "Grab on."

She didn't need telling twice. In the blank of an eye, she switched off her saber, clipped it to her belt and wrapped herself around him. She made sure to situate herself so that she could access her lightsaber quickly to deflect any shots in their direction.

Dyn jumped. He knew that they were too high up to be able to activate the jet pack immediately; he'd have to wait until they were about halfway down as it wouldn't be able to stay charged that long. But he felt like they were falling way more slowly than they should have been. He had a tight grip, maybe too tight, on Ter'a, but he refused to let her fall. Then he realized, she was using the Force to slow their fall. He wondered how long she could hold that concentration? He couldn't see her face as she was hugging his body tightly, but he activated the jet pack and it forced them horizontally and away from the Projects instead of their current trajectory downward. After a moment he let them fall again before activating the pack. And so it went for four falls and bursts of the pack until they'd drifted to the sidewalk across the street from the Project. Once they hit the ground, they continued to run away from the Project in the opposite direction, but made a zigzag pattern through Coruscant's city streets for about a half-hour before they dared to stop.

By the time they pulled up, Dyn was exhausted. Clearly, she maintained her stamina on Takodana by running, as she was out of breath too, but less so. Dyn was in good shape for sure, but he didn't often run for such long distances at one time. As he bent double to catch his breath, Ter'a spoke,

"I don't think we should head back to the ship tonight…" she panted.

"What?!" He straightened up and his lungs felt painful. "We have to get out of here…" he shook his head.

"What if we are just leading them back to the ship?"

"People already know where it is…"

"Only Mekkie knows," she reasoned. "You didn't tell Ao, and both he and Sio told you the truth that no one else knew about the job."

Dyn looked at her as she walked in a circle to catch her breath. She had a point. "What about the kid?"

"Hmm…" she continued to circle. "You left him with food, yes? And water?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I wanna leave him overnight in the Crest's closet…"

"He won't die… I think it's better anyway. Better to make certain we've shaken everyone off tonight than to lead them straight there just so we can check on the child."

"Mekkie knows there's a kid."

"But Mekkie, doesn't know it's with us…"

"I didn't say he wasn't with us…"

She stopped circled, having let her breath catch up with her. "Still… you know I'm right."

Dyn's breathing slowed to a normal pace. Of course she was right. He rolled his eyes. He had a feeling she'd be right a lot before this adventure was over…

"Okay, let's catch a cab to a hotel in a different district."

"Sounds good. How about the gambling district?"

"Good idea. We can stay in one of the big resorts."

Dyn hailed a cab that took them to Coruscant's colorfully lit gambling district. There were so many beings from so many species there to gamble that it would be nearly impossible for someone to spot them.

Ter'a had seen the lights from the gambling district plenty of times when she lived here as a child. They radiated against the sky and caused a lot of light pollution, which was saying something as the whole of Coruscant was a city, but she had never actually been here before. It was the perfect hiding place. Firstly, there were so many beings here that once they got to their room they'd be well hidden until morning Secondly, the Project residence wouldn't bother to come here looking for them because they had very little with which to gamble.

She followed the Mandalorian to the counter of one of the bigger casino resorts and watched him check them in to a small room facing the district where the ship was. She knew that he would try to spot the ship and keep an eye on it throughout the night.

He turned to her, "Can you come and scan your eye for the biometrics?"

She nodded and stepped up to the console and looked into it so that the computer could scan her eye. After it beeped, she stepped back again.

"Do you think you'll be able to spot the Crest from here? It's a little far… a couple of miles perhaps?" she asked him as they walked to the turbolifts that would take them to their room.

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to with the distance and all the buildings in the way. But I'd like to try to."

"Hm," was all she said as they stepped into the lift and it began to carry them up to their floor.

At last the lift ground to a halt on the fifty-eighth floor and they stepped out and turned right. Their room was about a third of the way down the long hallway. The Mandalorian waited while the door console scanned her eye and the lock clicked open. They stepped inside and Ter'a looked around the room as the Mandalorian stepped in behind her and closed and locked the door. It was a modest room with a large window that spanned the height and length of the wall that separated them from Coruscant's exterior. There was one bed, more than large enough for two humans as the beds in resorts like this one were set up to accommodate many different species of varying sizes. There was also a desk and chair, as well as two recliner seats made for relaxation with a side table in between them. She looked to the right and there were two doors, one was surely a closet with the other leading to the bathroom. The Mandalorian went right for both of these to make certain that they were alone.

Ter'a suddenly felt very tired. It was been a long day with a lot more action than she'd had in quite a long time. She walked to the window and slightly decreased the level of privacy glaze that gave the window it's frosty looking appearance just enough that she could differentiate between buildings and pulled a recliner around to face outward and watch the sun set. A few moments later, the Mandalorian came up behind her and pulled the other recliner next to hers and for several minutes they did nothing but sit side-by-side and stare out of the frosted glass and watch the sun sink lower and lower, and the sky tint deeper and deeper orange.

As the sun was threatening to disappear at the horizon, the silence was broken.

"It's Dyn."

"I'm sorry?" she asked looking at him, clearly confused.

"My name. It's Dyn."

When she turned her head to look at him, he still appeared to be gazing out the window.

"Dyn," she repeated seeing how his name fit her tongue.

He nodded.

Tilting her head to side, she asked, "Why are you telling me now?"

"I trust you."

"Because of the Projects?"

"Partly," he conceded. "But also, the way you trust me shows me that you're trustworthy."

"I'm sorry?" she said again. He was going in a very cerebral direction.

He looked over at her. "Today…" he paused and changed his response, "Yesterday, actually, you told me about your past. It was all very personal, and you just trusted me with it." He looked back out the window. "Today, you took me to the Temple and…" he took a deep breath. "everything that happened in there was…" he spoke more slowly, "very… private. And… emotional for you. It wasn't something that a person usually shares with a virtual stranger."

"We have to trust each other… build trust with each other." She said in a whisper.

"In the Projects," he continued, turning bodily to look at her again. "You were solid. I hardly had the chance to do anything until it was time to jump. And again… you trusted me. Not just with your past this time, but… with your life. What if I would have dropped you?"

She leaned towards him and smiled, "I knew you wouldn't. You were holding onto me like your own life depended on it."

He let out a breath of laughter and turned to look out of the window again, though it was fully dark now aside from the city lights, which were considerable. He didn't speak.

She looked at him and smiled but didn't speak. So, he trusted her now with his given name. Dyn. She liked it; it was unique and unassuming, like him. She'd carry it like something precious that she had to protect. She wouldn't tell anyone his name; wouldn't even acknowledge that she knew it outside of their private company. She smiled wider.

Dyn felt good. It felt nice to tell her his name. After the day's events and all they'd shared together, he owed her something more tangible than just his company. His name seemed like a great place to start. When she repeated it back, he thought it sounded like a song coming from her lips and he smiled inside his helmet. He was very confident that she'd treat his name with the same care as he did about removing his helmet. He knew now, that she'd die before revealing him to anyone. And with this thought, a whole new chorus of thoughts struck up a tune in his mind about how taking his helmet off only in front of her would make him feel about his life and the promises he'd made when he swore the Creed, and how it would all make him feel. He wished he could talk to her about it, but it felt so personal… though to be fair to her, she'd essentially shared her whole life with him and he hadn't shared his yet. But he reasoned that as this was very much about her, it made it difficult to discuss with her.

Instead, he stood up and adjusted the lighting in the room so that it was so dim that it was virtually off. Then he adjusted the privacy frosting of the exterior window so that it was clear enough to distinguish individual buildings and ships and made to see if he could spot the Crest through the darkness, city-lights and shadows, and perpetual motion and busyness of Coruscant's city-scape. Even with the special setting in his helmet that allowed him to scan the horizon for specific objects, the ship in this case, he had difficulty even though it wasn't too far away… perhaps a couple of miles like Ter'a had said. Finally, his helmet GPS found the location coordinates of the ship and he gazed toward where he knew it would be, but it was too dark and too far to see anything of interest…

He gave up and in the interest of safety, Dyn reset the glaze setting on the window to obscure everything again and went to the washroom. As soon as the door closed, he pulled his helmet off of his head and looked into the mirror. His hair was matted flat from sweating earlier from all the action in the Projects and the marathon they'd run afterward, and he felt he had the distinct look of a man lost in thought about an annoyingly ponderous problem… which honestly, he was. He was beginning to accept the fact that he wanted to take Ter'a up in his arms and kiss her. Face to face. Perhaps more? He looked hard at the man in the mirror and a stranger looked back at him. Since when had he been so interested in such things? Sure, he always wanted something like this, but on a very deep, very human level… kind of like a fantasy or a daydream… but he never thought it would actually happen… aside from the fact that he hadn't ever really looked for it. He tilted his head and the man in the mirror did the same. Though, maybe… he was just waiting to see if destiny would put something in his path? He was busy quite often… maybe he'd decided a long time ago that he'd just leave it up to fate to decide on these matters of the heart and he'd be left to decide on whether or not it was worth it if and when the time actually came.

He continued to stare hard into the eyes of the man in the mirror. He was leaning on the counter with his hands gripping the edges. Even if this was true, he still didn't know whether or not he'd be able to reveal his face to her. He hadn't done it for anyone. He acknowledged that was fear he felt. Fear of what would happen if he did. Even for Ter'a, and her alone… no one else. He knew now that he trusted her beyond all others, even Kuill and Cara. How would he feel afterwards? Would he be able, in good conscious, to put his helmet back on? He huffed a frustrated breath out and it fogged his reflection in the mirror. This was the same argument he'd had with himself a day ago! …Albeit, slightly more enlightened… Why couldn't he just decide!

Looking away from his reflection, he jammed his helmet back on his head and left the bathroom… he'd have to argue with himself more later… perhaps he be even more enlightened then than he was now…

Ter'a sat and watched him fiddle with the lights and the windows before going off to the washroom. She wanted desperately to shower but figured he'd want a moment to take his helmet off and have a moment to himself and so she was patient.

She'd known he wouldn't be able to see the Crest from their room, but she also knew that he was fiercely desiring to return to it and make sure that the child was safe. She didn't say anything, though perhaps she ought to in order to preserve some of his sanity, but she sensed the child through the Force, and he was as safe as he'd been when they left him. She'd taken special care to continuously, periodically, reach out to him in the Force and check on him… she explained this ability as best she could when she told Dyn about herself and the Force on the way here, but perhaps he'd forgotten.

The door to the bathroom swished open and he came marching out of it looking somewhat agitated.

"Are you alright?" she questioned him with a furrowed brow.

"Fine."

"The child is fine, you know…. No need to worry, I can sense him through the Force. He's sleeping now."

Dyn looked up at her from where he'd thrown himself down on the far corner of the bed. "I forgot you could do that… thanks."

Even though he thanked her, she still sensed agitation and only the most mild of placation at the information about the child. Something else was bothering him. She got up and walked over to sit next to him. "If you aren't worried about the child, what is it?"

No answer.

"Dyn?" she dipped her head so that she forced herself into his eyeline. "Talk to me, what's bothering you?"

He looked away and she could tell he was casting about for something to pretend to be worried about.

"The kid…" he lied finally. "This trip to Tatooine. Maybe you were right, maybe it's not such a good idea."

She knew he was lying to her, but she sensed that he wasn't quite ready to talk about what ever it was that bothered him… not yet. She trusted him, so she decided she give him some more time. Even though going to Tatooine made her slightly nervous, she decided earlier in the day that they didn't have many options and that they could both handle any situation that might arise there. So she said, "I do feel nervous about it, yes, but together you and I can handle it."

She put her hand on his shoulder and stood. "I think that we need to go, and of course, we'll be on guard. It'll all be fine," she nodded with a smile. She walked toward the washroom and said over her shoulder, "I'm dying for a shower. Take your helmet off while I'm in there, try to relax a little."

She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. What on Coruscant was bothering him? He didn't want to talk to her about it so he'd made something up… what would make him feel like he couldn't share it with her? That he had to lie? She pushed off the door and turned on the shower while she thought. She wasn't angry with him for lying…

As the water turned hot, the way she liked it, the mirror fogged up and she undressed and put her clothes into the ion cleaner. Maybe he was thinking something about her?

She stepped into the shower.

What else could it be…? He hadn't told her anything about his past yet. Maybe that was it? No, she thought shaking her head. That doesn't feel right…

Despite the thoughts brewing in her mind, her body relaxed from the heat of the water. She thought for a few minutes and weighed the options before deciding that whatever he was thinking about had something to do with her. Something probably along the lines of battling with whatever feelings he was developing for her.

It was obvious that they'd begun to have feelings of some sort for each other when they'd woken up in each others' arms on the Crest. There couldn't possibly be something else that he wouldn't tell her now if he'd shared his name with her…

With these revelations she decided to let it go for the time being. Whatever he was thinking, he obviously wasn't ready to share it yet, and she wanted to maintain her promise not to push him.

She exhaled and stood under the water, rinsing the floral soap from her body, and the conditioner from her hair while watching the suds swirl the drain before disappearing. She ran her hands sensually up her body and took a deep, steadying breath. She found herself wanting desperately to be touched. By him. But she didn't dare do anything with Dyn just on the other side of the door. She needed to meditate to wash this feeling away for the time being…

She switched off the water and dried herself before dressing in her now cleaned clothes, then braided her hair. Tonight, since she was just going to meditate before going to sleep, she let the braids hang down over her shoulders rather than pinning them up. She wiped clean a swath of space onto the fogged mirror to gaze momentarily at her reflection. Her skin was pink from the heat of the shower and the intense desires she was feeling. Looking down she turned towards the door.

As soon as she went into the shower, Dyn whipped his helmet back off his head. He remained in the same place as she left him for the duration of her shower. He tried, and failed, to clear his mind. He wanted a few mintues' peace, but it was not to be; his thoughts drifted from her, to the kid, and back again, and soon enough, he heard her turn off the water and knew she'd be coming out of the washroom soon. He closed his eyes tiredly and took a deep breath before huffing it out, annoyed with himself.

She knocked on the bathroom door, asking permission to reenter the room and he put his helmet back on. "Okay," he called to her. As soon as she opened the door, he really wished she would have stayed in there, because when she stepped out, she looked amazing. Her skin was pink from an obviously searing hot shower, and the way she'd braided her hair made her look even more beautiful, if that were possible. It was braided like before, but this time, perhaps for ease, she let the long braids hang down over her shoulders and down her back rather than pinning them up and out of the way. Dyn stood quickly.

"Finished in there?"

She nodded and before she could say anything else, he said, "Okay. I want to shower too," and walked past her. Before he closed the door, he looked back at her and said, "Go ahead and go to sleep if you're tired, I want to get back to the ship pretty early."

Once, he closed the door and locked it, he leaned against it and yanked his helmet roughly off of his head. So roughly, that his neck stung for a moment from the motion. He winced and rubbed it. Damn… he thought as he placed his helmet on the counter. She had driven him crazy just then… unintentionally of course. He hoped he hadn't acted too rudely or suspiciously, but he felt a twitch in his groin that necessitated a hasty exit. It didn't help that as he walked by her into the washroom, he smelled the flowery soap provided by the resort on her, and it was intoxicating. Now, he smelled it overwhelmingly in here.

Balling his hands into fists, he walked to the shower and turned it on and undressed quickly dropping his gear, clothes, and weapons into a pile at his feet and jumped into the shower. It was hot… painfully so. How could she possibly like the shower this hot? He turned it down a couple of notches and waited for it to cool. He closed his eyes and took such a deep breath that it hurt his lungs. All he could see behind his eyelids was her. The delightfully pink skin, the long plaits draped over her shoulders… he sighed as he let out the breath. Placing both of his hands on the wall, he dropped his head and let the water hit the back of it and run down over his back… he wasn't going to be able to hold out forever on Ter'a… she was so alluring… physically, mentally, and emotionally. She was strong. She could fight. She knew who she was. She was smart. She was cunning. She understood him. She was kind, but tough and powerful… All of these thoughts came in rapid-fire succession and ended with her face hovering before his closed eyes. He felt overwhelmed at them.

He looked up at the wall and rolled his eyes. He knew he was fighting a losing battle and so he lowered his right hand to grasp his cock. He wasn't at all surprised to find himself rock hard, and his eyes rolled back in his head as soon as he closed his fingers around his erection. He bit his lip and hung his head again as he stroked himself. It felt amazing but he had to keep quiet. His left hand, still against the wall, balled into a tight fist and he grunted quietly and threw his head back again as he continued to stroke, more quickly now. He was coming to come soon, and he wanted nothing more than to be completely silent when it happened. Suddenly, his back arched, he squeezed his eyes shut, and he screwed up his face as he came, hard. It was everything he could do not to shout out as he rode the pleasure through to the end.

Finally, his body relaxed, and he rested his head against the wall breathing deeply. That had felt nice. It also put his mind into a blissful fog… his mind was finally blank, and he was ready to sleep.

It took a few moments for him to muster the strength to even reach up to turn the shower off, let alone get out and dry and dress, but soon he had dressed up to his tunic, trousers, belt, and socks. He took up his helmet, slid it on and opened the door.

He honestly thought that she'd have gone to sleep by the time he came out, but she wasn't. She told him about meditation, and he was interested to see it. But when he came out of the washroom and saw her floating a foot off the ground and in a state of complete relaxation, he was mesmerized. He stood there and looked at her, taking in everything. She was sitting cross-legged with her hands resting, palm down, on her knees. Her shoulders were relaxed but not slouching, and her posture was still straight. Raising his eyes to her face he thought that she looked so relaxed that she could have been asleep. Until she smiled and said, "All finished?"

He started. How did she know he was there? Did she know what he'd done in the shower? "Yeah, but take as long as you need, I'm going to lie down and try to sleep." He knew there was no trying… after his actions in the shower, he wasn't going to be conscious much longer than the time it took to pull the sheets up.

"It's all right," she said, her eyes fluttering open as she sank slowly back to the ground. She stood up and went to the side of the bed opposite him and pulled down the sheet. "I'm tired too."

They climbed into the bed and Dyn thought he might've felt a little self-conscious if he wasn't so tired. Something he definitely wasn't used to. They were at least three feet apart on the giant bed, so it was essentially like they weren't even in the same bed. Dyn thought, as she said goodnight and turned on her side to face away from him, about when they'd slept together on his tiny bunk in the Crest…

He was far too tired after his shower to give it too much thought though and drifted, almost immediately off to sleep.

Ter'a blinked. The sun's very tip had just peeked above the horizon. She sat up straight feeling disconcerted. Something was wrong… or it was about to be? She turned and saw the Mandalorian sleeping to her left with his helmet on. She put her hand on his chest and tried to wake him, and he sucked in a breath that told her she had startled him slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked groggily as he sat up and looked at the clock.

"I think it's time to go…" she said from the foot of the bed. She'd already gotten up and started to pile his weapons and armor onto the edge of the bed.

"Why? What's wrong? He said, fully awake now. "I set an alarm for an hour from now…" but he too had gotten up and began to adorn the items she was placing on the bed.

"I'm not entirely sure… the child is okay, but I just have a feeling our respite is over on this planet… we need to move on."

He stopped and looked at her as she was slipping on her boots. He hadn't seen her this flustered before and it unnerved him slightly. He reached out grabbed her wrists to steady her for a moment and looked into her eyes. "Take it easy. We'll finish getting ready and get out of here as quick as possible, but take a breath."

She closed her eyes and nodded. He was right. There was nothing happening yet. As long as they didn't waste time, she felt that they'd be fine.

He released her and began to dress again, a little more quickly. Since she'd only had to put on her boots, she began to help him, shoving his blaster into its holster, handing him weaponry, and so on. Finally, she did up his cloak just like she'd done on Takodana, and just like then he stooped lower so she could see what she was doing. This time however, there was no time to marvel in the tenderness of the moment as they hurried from the room.

The cab ride to the landing platform brought a new wave of anxiety that she couldn't place and she began to maintain a constant connection to the child to see what he was feeling. As Dyn paid the driver once they arrived, she ran to the Crest and lowered the ramp.

They ran inside and part ways as he ran to the cockpit and she to the child. As soon as she opened the door, he held up his hands to her and she picked him up. "How are you, little one?" she asked with a smile, as she carried him to the cockpit after Dyn. He was lifting off the landing pad as she emerged from the ladder and buckled in.

"Ready?" Dyn asked her.

"All ready," she said.

"Okay, I set course for Tatooine, we'll be there in two days."

She nodded as they left the atmosphere of Coruscant and entered hyperspace.