Chapter Six: All I ever wanted

„All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm"

Depeche Mode, „Enjoy the Silence"

Ebon Hawk, Med-Bay

Finally.

Finally everything was done.

Finally the people of Khoonda were brought into provisional quarters, they had emergency power from the Hawk's standby set, they had been given first aid treating. As had been given the crew members as well. Mira had volunteered to fly Né's ship to the Landing Pad. The only thing that was lacking now was a conscious Né.

"Now, will you just get out of my way?", Mical scolded Atton who just continued staring at Ne´'s still form on the cot. He had let the Disciple clean out and dress his deeper wounds and Force-heal the more superficial ones without a word, the whole time staring at the woman on the cot. And now Mical was just fed up with the lovesick pilot. "Look, I have to do some work. I need to clean up the med-bay, and have a look at our stock, and I desperately want to go to bed. So I need to do all of this fast. But I can't do it fast if you continue to sit there and stare and block my way to the stock." Still no answer.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Atton grunted, then said: "No, you're bothering me. Can't you do that stuff tomorrow? And why's she still unconscious? I mean, that's something you should be concerned about, you know. Healing her. You are a healer, right?" Deep inside he felt a little nasty satisfaction sink in at the scowl Mical was giving him.

"Yes, I am. And I think she is just resting. Seems like she had some tough days."

"Uh… just to get that right… basically you're telling that she just fainted because of sleep-deprivation?" Mical nodded, obviously not aware of what Atton's reaction would be. "Dear Force, you're one of the densest people I've ever known. You don't need to keep her in med-bay for that. It would be enough to…"

"I think she still needs some monitoring, because she took some serious hits…"

It was Mical's second mistake in just one minute. "Monitoring? More like ogling. And I don't think so, mister. I think it's better to put her in the dormitory, in her own bed which would do her a lot better than that cot. And don't worry about your beauty sleep, pretty boy, I'll volunteer form "monitoring"."

"Yeah, I bet you do.", Mical murmured. He was about to contradict Atton a second time, but the man just got off from his cot and cradled Né's sleeping form in his arms. Without a word he went past Mical and towards the dormitory. The Disciple wanted to follow him, but suddenly all the exhaustion found its way first to his legs and then to his brain, and it took every once of will power to motivate himself to walk to the males' dormitory and fall down on the bed.

Females' Dormitory

As quiet as possible, Atton made his way into the women's dormitory. Visas and Mira were already sound asleep, and Atton intended to simply put Né into bed and then give himself some well deserved shut-eye but obviously Né had other plans.

When he had put her into bed, he just couldn't resist to planting a kiss on her forehead. Which in turn made her stir a bit and murmur something like: "Don't go." At first he dismissed it as sleep-talking, but when he was about to leave the room, she said a little louder and clearer: "I meant that."

He turned around. Sleepy green eyes under tousled blond hair and over a nose delicately wrinkled in soft indignation gazed at him. She looked adorable. How could ever I resist that? He smiled and walked back to her bed. Crouching down he said: "Never thought differently."

She stuck out her tongue a little and grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Liar.", but moved to make room for him.

He raised his eyebrow. "Uh… who are you and what have you done to the woman whose face you're wearing?"

She lay down and curled up under the blanket. "Stop talking and just get under that blanket, mister."

His heart beat accelerated several beats per minute. How long had he been fantasizing about her saying just this sentence? And now that she had… why was he acting as coyly as a Coruscanti debutante on her first dance?

"Hey, it's getting cold."

Atton still wasn't moving, which earned him an exasperated sigh. She sat up again and said: "I'll explain everything to you if that's what you want but right now I just want you to come into my bed and hold me. You think you can manage that?"

She quirked an eyebrow and patted the small space beside her. Thoughts were racing through his mind at light speed. It's the sleep-deprivation. It's the fight. Maybe she got hit on the head. She's offering you a place beside her. In. Her. Bed In her goddamn frakking bed Offering. You...

Stop that, it's making my head hurt. Now come on, I promise I won't do anything inappropriate., suddenly her voice sounded in his mind, accompanied by quite an amount of impatience and indignation. And the almighty pull just to get this over with and crawl under her covers, hold her close, fall asleep with her scent in his nose…

He grunted, finally giving in to the desire that had been stirring inside of him since he had entered the room with her in his arms. Though getting settled in was accompanied by the words: "That was the last time you got away with messing with my head, you Jedi vixen."

She propped herself up on his chest and just said with an impish grin: "I wasn't messing. It was all already inside, I bet."

Then she settled in herself, laying her head down on his shoulder and her hand resting on his chest. One of her legs had sneaked its way over his, and he carefully wrapped her in his arms. His last thought before falling asleep was You have no idea just how right you are, baby.

Females' Dormitory, 16 hours later

It was quiet in the room, Visas meditating on the floor, Mira playing some solo pazaak on her bed and Né up-dating her journal. The day had been exhausting but somehow fulfilling.

After about six hours of sleep each, they had gathered in the main hold to discuss the follow up to their current situation. Atton's suggestion had been to leave immediately to the next planet with a hyper space comlink connection to Republic space to inform at least Admiral Onasi of the whole situation, and Mandalore had agreed with him.

Bao-Dur though had had spoken with Dillan the night before, as Administrator Adare had been under the first casualties of Atris' attack at Dantooine. She had had told him that Atris had had rendered their power generators useless, beyond repair. Her desperation at not knowing how to keep her people alive since the winter on this side of the planet was approaching fast had moved him and he had suggested to stay at least two days so he could create a new improvisational power generator from parts of the old and spare parts from the Hawk

Visas had joined him, adding that they also needed time to investigate what had happened at the Enclave and to track down Atris through the Force. Mira and Mical had said nothing, and in the end everyone had waited for her decision. She hesitated a little, knowing what would ensue once she had voiced her opinion, but knowing it was the right decision she had agreed with Bao-Dur's suggestion. And of course it had been Atton who had questioned her decision, arguing hard against it but in the end giving in.

Then they had set out to meet with Dillan and Suulru, obviously the temporary leaders of the Khoonda people. They had discussed their suggestions and offers, and after a little hesitation they had agreed. Instantly Bao-Dur and T3 had taken off for the power generators under the Administration building to see what they could still use, and Mical and Mira had gone to the provisional quarters, checking the medical situation of the survivors.

That left Mandalore, Atton, Visas and her for exploring the Enclave. The walk had been quiet, and she had sneaked side glances at Atton when she thought he wasn't looking at her. Their little argument in the main hold had bothered her more than she would admit, and she desperately wanted to know if he was still angry with her for siding with Bao-Dur and Visas.

Visas had seemed to have noticed it as she had told her in a very soft voice: "I know that you are upset about this morning but you have to focus on your task. I am sure you can set this right when we are done with everything."

Né had just nodded and tried to focus on finding out what had happened in the Enclave prior to their arrival.

Entering the patio in broad daylight hadn't been nearly as scary as it had had been the night before, but just the memory of what had had occurred there only hours ago had made her shiver involuntarily. They had sent the men off to have a look at that cellar from which the survivors had climbed out after the victory over the Handmaiden. Né then had told Visas about her discovery on Korriban, and they had agreed on meditating to find out how exactly the bodies of the masters had vanished.

She closed her eyes and leant her head on the wall behind her bed. It had been very easy to tap into the Force and search for what had happened at the patio, with the dark side still strong in the place. And just because of that both Visas and herself had needed all the strength the other could give them to guide them through the vision that had followed.

In the vision it had been night again, a slight breeze waving through the patio now and then. The only thing disturbing the peaceful scenery had been the Force-empty bodies of Masters Vrook, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell. Then their ankle changed and they could see Atris and three of her Handmaidens stride in, one of them being the one they had defeated last night. They couldn't hear what was spoken, but they could see Atris raising her right hand to levitate the body of Master Vrook, and the other two Handmaidens doing the same with those of Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell.

And then things had become ugly. Suddenly it had felt as if Atris had been looking straight at them, as if she was knowing that someone was watching her. Her beautiful face then had contorted itself into a mask of hatred and she had sneered at the two Jedi, saying "I knew you would follow me, Exile. And I know you will follow me again. Well, I am prepared for making you fall. Are you, too?", and with her free hand she had suddenly thrown Force lightening at her.

Next thing she had known Atton was cradling her in his arms, asking her if everything was okay. The worry in his eyes had been almost overwhelming, and she had just nodded, not trusting herself to be able to speak for a moment. Then Visas had recovered, and she had felt her own strength coming back to her as well. Taking a shaky breath she had used Atton's hand to get up as well.

"Well," she had said, "I think it's time to return to Khoonda. There's nothing left her for investigation, and I bet the others need our help. Plus we need to question a few of the survivors how Atris came here and what they had been doing in the cellar."

She smiled a little.

After that little episode with the fainting and waking up in Atton's arms, the tension between them had eased a little, and over the course of the day it had disappeared, only to be replaced by a different kind of tension. Throughout the day there had been glances, little smiles, casual touching… And neither one had let the other one alone for more than ten minutes. Helping Bao-Dur get the components needed from the Hawk, aiding Mical in treating the settlers, questioning some of them with Visas… there was nearly nothing they didn't do together.

She smiled a little more. Yup, they had definitely acted weird today. As if they were afraid of losing the other again. Well, d'uh, not very surprising now, is it? She smirked at the thought, but smiled again when she recalled the warmth that had spread through her every time Atton had smiled at her or squeezed her shoulder or ruffled her hair… or that thing where he had shared a ration bar with her, half feeding her... no, she had time for fantasizing later, she needed to get the journal entry done.

In the end they had needed ten hours to be halfway done with the new generator, improving the conditions in the provisional quarters and get everyone catered to their needs. But what was more important, they finally had gotten some information on what the settlers were doing in the cellar below the patio. It seemed that after eliminating Khoonda's defenses and killing off most of the soldiers, the Handmaidens had rounded up the survivors – settlers and scavengers alike – and had driven them to the Enclave. From what the survivors had described Visas and she could make out that Atris and the Handmaiden had been feeding off their vital force to strengthen their own Force powers.

This discovery nearly had had Né reeling, as it meant that Atris had mastered to learn what she did naturally: forming bounds through the Force and draw strength from those who followed her. Visas, Atton, Mical and even Mira had tried to explain to her that she was different, that she wasn't harming people, that it was just in her nature to form bonds and make people follow her, but she had only felt the strong urge to shut herself up in some dark room and shut off everybody.

In the end, Visas and Mira had nearly dragged away a reluctant Mical and had given Atton the space he needed to reason with her alone. But instead of relying on words he had just taken her in his arms, had told her that he wouldn't let any Ice Queen Jedi get to her which had somehow made her smile. That together with the comforting sound of his heart beat and the warmth of his unique scent had driven away these thoughts. At least for the time being.

She shut off the data pad and looked into the round.. "Alright, girls, I'd say time for bed, huh?" Visas turned towards her, only nodding, while Mira brushed the pazaak cards off her bed and headed to the refresher, taking her night clothes with her.

When she was back, the room was dark, and she crawled under her covers. After a short while she suddenly said: "So… you and Atton, huh?" No reply, but she could sense that Né was still wide awake. "Oh come on, I know you're still awake. So?"

A sigh and then an answer: "So… Atton and me what?"

Mira could hear the smirk in her friend's voice. "Well… uh…you know. Power couplings and stuff."

"Power couplings, huh?"

"I am sure, Mira, that you already know the answer to your question. I do not think it is necessary to ask it.", Visas chimed in, and Mira thought she could hear a little indignation creeping into her voice.

"Yeah, well, but I want to hear the answer from our fearless leader herself. So? What was he doing in your bed this morning?"

"Uh…" If there ever was a blush that could be actually heard through the dark, it was the one that was obviously creeping now over Né's face. "Well, uh… you know… it's not what you think, girls…"

"Well, how is it then? I must admit, I asked myself the same question that Mira gave you. And I am… most curious about your answer, Master." Visas again, and now she had sided with her. Mira smiled viciously.

"Uh… first of all: stop calling me "Master", Visas. And second thing: I… uh… Argh, that's none of your business anyway.", Né only huffed.

Mira just said: "Okaaay… but we'd still like to know what's going on between you two. Now, in general, I mean. Not the details. Because that would be… Eww! So, spill it, girl."

"I fully agree with Mira."

Silence again. Then: "We… uh… we're closer than before, that's right. But nothing happened between us. I swear. Jedi honor and everything. Not even a kiss. Now, are you satisfied?"

Mira sat up and grinned. "Well, yeah. And if you need those handcuffs we'd been talking about…"

Suddenly a pillow smacked her right into the face, and she squealed. "Handcuffs? What handcuffs?" Now it was Visas's turn to get smacked by a pillow, and it even was her own. And in a matter of seconds, the three of them were engaged in a full blown pillow fight, even Visas shamelessly using the Force to throw around the pillows.

Just as Visas had landed a particularly nasty blow at Né which had made the pillow burst right over her head and littering her with small synthe-feathers, a loud knock sounded at the door. "Oi, are you all decent in there?", shouted Atton's voice.

Mira commented it with "At least one of us has her mind deep in the gutter, I'd say.", which earned her another pillow smack from Né, who in the same moment called Atton in. The door opened, and a clearly disheveled Atton stood in the doorway. Cute., was the first word that came to Né's mind, but she just said as innocently as possible: "Uh, something up?"

He raised an eyebrow and switched on the light in the room with a small wave. Collective groans emerged from Mira and Né, and the two of them squinted. His gaze got stuck at Né, who was kneeling on her bed, her face slightly flushed and littered all over with small synthe-feather. Again: adorable., he thought but said a little irritated: "You know, there are people on this ship desperately needing their sleep. But with you having a little teenage sleep-over fun, that sleep's really elusive. Now, just take my hint and get to sleep yourself, okay?"

Né wanted to say something, but Mira beat her to it: "Or what?"

He smirked: "Or I'll give you all a good spanking with my pillow. Now good night, ladies." Three pillows from the women and the shout "Old perv!" from both Né and Mira hit the door that he had just managed to close.

A/N: Woohoo! That chapter actually was lot of fun to write. And everyone who thinks it's OOC for Visas to take part in a pillow fight, just think like this: her dark master's gone, she has made her peace with her past, and Kreia - clearly a thread - is gone, too. She has just found her light side Master again, and a hard day is behind her. And she is a young woman, after all. She just losened up a little. That a deal? And besides, it's fun picturing her throwing pillows around with the Force ;)

Oh yeah, and every one who reads but doesn't review will get hit over the head with a pillow as well. I will find you. :tries to look like Darth Sion without looking too ridiculous:

:fails miserably:

Uh, well...

Jedi-Falen - Thanks for your review. And please, uh, forgive for me for stealing that idea with "crawling under the covers" from "A Sister's Empathy" (I promise, I'll review it as soon as I'm through with it), but I just couldn't resist. And I hope I changed it enough that it doesn't feel like a plagiat to you.