He wasn't quite sure why he was
there. He had picked up on her distress
through the force and had felt inclined to come. They hadn't spoken in two days but Jacen was man enough to put
aside his own personal feelings, for a while anyways. At least he thought he could and he hoped Tenal Ka could do the
same.
When she opened the door,
her face was full of surprise. She
obviously had not been expecting him or she would have felt his presence
through the force.
Jacen shuffled his feet
nervously. "I, uh, got a strong
sensation through the force that something was wrong," he explained.
He half expected her to slam the
door in his face, or to hit him again, but she did neither. Instead, Tenal Ka simply regarded him for a
few seconds before answering him. "Zeille and I had a misunderstanding,"
"Ah," It had obviously been a lot more than a 'misunderstanding' if Jacen was able to pick up on her emotions that strongly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her.
"No," she answered quickly.
He had been expecting this. She was obviously still pretty upset with
him, and rightly so. It wasn't like he
had a right to know what was bothering her. Jacen was not even sure if they were friends anymore. He prayed that they still were, hoping that
in time she would be able to forgive him for everything he had said to her when
he was drunk. He could not stand to
lose her altogether, but if she wanted time and space to sort everything out,
he would give it to her. He owed her
that at the very least.
"I guess I'll just head back to my
room now," he said, making a move to leave but Tenal Ka's voice stopped him.
"Jacen, you do not have to go,"
"Ok, I'll stay," he replied and then
added, "if that's what you want,"
She nodded slowly. "I do,"
Before Jacen knew it, he was
following Tenal Ka into her apartment and taking a seat across from her on a
repulsor couch. She sat down on a
nearby chair in front of Jacen, seemingly afraid to get too close to him.
Jacen noticed Zeille was nowhere to
be seen. He assumed he had taken off
after their 'misunderstanding'.
This was Jacen's first time in Tenal
Ka's new home. It had all the grandeur
and taste that he'd expect from a princess' home. Tenal Ka probably hates it, thought Jacen, smiling inwardly. The furniture alone was almost certainly
enough to by half the Imperial Palace back on Courscant.
He fidgeted in his seat. "So, how have you been?" He asked, trying to make conversation. Anything was better than just the two of
them sitting there in silence as if they were a couple of complete strangers.
She shrugged slightly. "I have been busy with the usual Hapan
nonsense," she began, "squabbling diplomats and officials hoping to improve
their status by constantly congratulating me on my new marriage," she went
silent after that last part, realizing that marriage was the last thing either
one of them wanted to talk about.
Jacen cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for everything I said to
you. I was drunk, but that was no
excuse for the way I treated you. I
deserved to be hit,"
Tenal Ka looked at his face,
resisting the urge to stroke the part of his jaw where she had hit him. "Does it hurt?"
"Naw, not really," when it looked
like she didn't believe him, he added, "it looks worse than it really is."
"I am glad I did not cause you any
permanent damage,"
"So am I," then he continued in a
serious voice, saying, "I don't even know why you're talking to me,"
"Because we are friends," she made
it sound like it was the most obvious answer in the universe.
"You still want to be friends after
everything I've done to you?"
"No matter what you say or do
Jacen, you will always be my best friend. Nothing will ever change that," she said softly but with conviction."
"Then why won't you even look at
me?"
"I thought you would hate me
after…after what happened between us," she said looking at him for the first
time since he had walked in the apartment.
Jacen quickly shook his head. "I could never hate you,"
A small smile crept onto her
lips. "I am glad we are still friends,"
"Me too," relief washed over
Jacen. He had been so worried that he had
lost his best friend for good but it had turned out she had been just as
worried about the same thing. As much
as it pained him, he could handle just being friends with her. They had always been close, and like Tenal
Ka had said, nothing would ever change that.
He realized at that moment that he
had been staring at her. He quickly
turned away, embarrassed. Then he stood
up. "I should probably go. It's getting late," he wanted to get out of
there before he did something stupid. He had already done enough stupid things on this trip.
Tenal Ka stood up at the same time
and was facing him.
She was so beautiful, just standing
there facing him. All he wanted to do
was take her in his arms and kiss her.
Whoa, Jacen, he scolded
himself, she's married, remember?
As much as he tried to stop the
feelings growing inside of him, he couldn't. They just stood there, staring at each other. Tenal Ka eventually turned away, but Jacen placed a gentle hand
on her cheek forcing her to look at him. He leaned forward, their lips slowly inching closer and closer, until
that moment when they finally touched. Tentative at first because Jacen was unsure of how she would respond. He expected her to pull away, but was happy
when she didn't. The kiss become more
passionate as Tenal Ka pressed her lips against his and ran her hands through
this thick hair.
Jacen pulled away from her, aware of
what was going to happen if they didn't stop. He leaned his forward against
hers. "Tenal Ka, we can't," he
breathed.
She kissed him again. "Yes, we can,"
He wrapped his hands around her
waist and pulled her close to him. He
started kissing her lips and then moved his head down so he was kissing her
neck. Tenal Ka ran her hands along his
back and began taking his shirt off. She lifted it over his head and started kissing his chest.
Jacen ran his hands through her red
gold braids and whispered softly to her, his breath tickling her ear, "I love
you,"
She smiled up at him and Jacen
could not remember seeing a more beautiful sight, "I love you too," she kissed
him again, their bodies pressed tightly together. Jacen lifted her into his arms then, something he had wanted to
do a million times before, and continued kissing her with years of pent up
passion as he carried her into the bedroom.