I awoke a few hours later to an empty bed and only my chest to my waist covered by the blanket. I sat up slowly to find Wolf sitting in the chair half naked, leaning over with his elbows propped on his knees and staring out the window.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked quietly.

He gave me a subtle shake of his head. "I don't sleep much." He glanced over to me. "I didn't want to wake you. We had an eventful night."

I smiled at his innuendo. "I appreciate the thought, Wolf."

I got out of the bed with the blanket still covering me. I approached Wolf and gently pushed him against the back of the chair so I could straddle his lap. He let out a low growl.

"You really want to go another round?"

"I want to wear you out so you'll sleep for a while."

He scoffed. "You mean wear me out so you can sneak out."

"I can't stay forever. Gods know what this little distraction is going to cost me."

"Are you regretting it?"

"Of course not! The fact that I'm even thinking about this right now is…" I paused as I tried to get my words together.

Wolf wasn't going to wait on me to shut him down. He grabbed my buttocks and flawlessly pulled me up with him as he stood. He pinned me up against the wall and pulled the sheet from me, revealing my naked body to him. I smiled at him in amusement.

"I suppose that can all wait for now…"

I had finally worn out Wolf enough to get him to sleep soundly. I took this time to go ahead and take my leave. I dressed in my evening gown from the party and carried my heels in my hand so I could actually sneak out without someone hearing me coming. I made my way to where my fighter was docked to find it surrounded by apes and other criminals. I hid behind a wall and swore under my breath. As I was trying to figure out a plan, Panther strode out and addressed the men.

"Instead of standing around, shouldn't you be trying to find the intruder?"

The men scrambled and left the hangar in a hurry. I heard footsteps coming closer to me then, Panther came around the corner.

"The coast is clear, Miss Skye," he purred.

I smiled up at him. "Thanks for the save."

He gave me a once-over, taking in my disheveled appearance and my lack of trying to cover the deed up.

"If you don't mind me asking…"

"It's not what you think," I quickly defended myself. "I know I look like a wreck and it's kind of suspicious that I'm sneaking out while he's sleeping but, sadly, he knew it was going to happen. It's already super complicated and I'm a mess as it is."

Panther arched a brow at me. "What do you mean by complicated?"

I sighed. "I care about him, Panther. More deeply than I thought imaginable. I'm just… I'm so torn. I don't regret anything but, I'm sick to my stomach thinking that I've made a terrible mistake."

"Because of how you feel about Falco?" he asked.

I was surprised at him. "How did you…?"

He moved to a large panel and disengaged the lock on my ship. He came back to me.

"You should do as your heart desires, Miss Skye. Wolf was only looking to keep your loneliness at bay, as well as his own. He puts up a good front but, he has quite the soft spot for you. I think he always has."

I groaned. "I don't know if that should make me feel better or worse…"

Panther put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Wolf knows that you care about him. I will talk to him if that will make you feel better."

I nodded. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"In the meantime, you should get going before those goons decide to come back."

"Of course. Star Wolf has a reputation to uphold. Wouldn't want the others to question your authority."

Panther smiled toothily at me. "I'm glad you understand, Miss Skye."

I gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you again, Panther. I really appreciate you."

I bounded away to board my ship. It took me a few moments to get through the launch sequence but I was off before I knew it. When I arrived back at Corneria, it was already mid-afternoon. I had completely lost track of time, I knew I was going to hear an ear-full from Hara as soon as I got home.

I came through the door of the apartment and tried to sneak to my room. Hara was in the kitchen while Conna was in her room but I heard another voice coming from that direction. Hara came to see who was at the door and froze. She gave me a once-over and began to shake her head.

"Well, well," she mused. "That explains a lot."

I'm sure the guilt I was feeling was written all over my face. A gleam in her eyes told me that something was extremely wrong. It wasn't until Conna walked out hand in hand with Falco that it all came together. I felt like my heart had dropped into my stomach. He froze as soon as he saw my disheveled appearance. Conna didn't seem to notice or care, she was just happy to see me.

"Skye! You're back!" she cried. She ran to me and latched onto my waist. "I'm glad you're okay! We were worried when you didn't come back from the party."

I returned her hug but kept most of my attention on Falco.

"That's quite the walk of shame you've got, Skye."

I wanted to crawl into a hole and just disappear. I should've just followed my gut from the beginning. I knew something like this was going to happen.

"Falco, please… Just hear me out for a second," I pleaded.

"I think I've seen enough." He turned to Hara. "You knew about this?"

Hara threw her hands up. "Don't look at me, I was just as in the dark about this as you were."

"I'll take my leave then."

He walked past me without saying a word. In that moment, something in me snapped. I wasn't about to let him snub me and get away with it.

"You hold it right there, Falco," I demanded.

He stopped in his tracks but didn't turn to face me. I moved Conna to make her stand behind me.

"What I do with my life is none of your damn business," I told him. "I made it very clear before you left that we weren't an item. You don't own me. I had a one night stand, so what? You have no right to judge me."

I heard him scoff then he slowly turned to me. He came and stood nose-to-beak with me and crossed his arms.

"You're right, I can't judge you. But I can judge the man you slept with."

"You're really going to stoop to a childish level about this?"

"Who was it, Skye? Instead of dodging, you can just be honest. Wasn't that our thing a while ago? Wasn't that our compromise?"

He had me there. I immediately backed down.

"I don't ask about your past…"

"You two need to knock it off," Hara cut in. "You both are pretty, we get it. You need to get over yourselves. Not to mention that you're doing this in front of Conna. If you're going to fight and have a pissing contest, take it elsewhere."

At the mention of Conna, I glanced over to see her backing slowly away from us.

"Conna, please…"

She shook her head then quickly retreated to her room and shut the door. I turned sharply toward Falco, my temper renewed.

"Fine! You want to know who it was?" I demanded. "It was Wolf! He came to see me at the party!"

Falco looked like he had no idea how to react to the bomb I just dropped. Hara seemed just as shocked as he was. I watched as Falco's fists clenched and unclenched. He took a deep breath in and out, I think to calm himself for a few moments.

"I think… I think I need to go," he said quietly.

He opened the door and shut it quietly behind him. I was surprised that he was able to shut it so gently after what I just told him. Hara stomped over to me.

"What the hell was that?! Wolf?! Of all people to sleep with! You may have ruined any chance with Falco that you possibly had!"

"I'm an adult, Hara. I'm allowed to do as I please."

"But, Falco-"

"I made it crystal clear that he and I were not together. He doesn't get to decide who I get to be with. And, last I checked, it wasn't any of your damn business either." I was being a lot colder to her than I should have been. In reality, I was breaking inside. I hurt Falco pretty badly and, like Hara said, I may have ruined any chance I had with him.

I knew I should've followed my gut feeling… But, I also didn't regret being with Wolf. In fact, I quite enjoyed our little sexcapade. I needed to take the edge off and he did that for me. I knew the consequences and accepted them the minute I took Wolf's hand. That was the end of it.

I went to check on Conna to make sure she was alright. She lay on her bed facing away from me.

"Conna," I said as I strode in, "I'm sorry that you had to see me and Falco fight."

"Why can't you two just get along?" she demanded. "He loves you, Skye! A lot! And you would rather fight with him than just be with him!"

"It's not that simple, Conna…"

"Why can't it be?!"

I sighed. "It just isn't. I'm sorry that I don't have a better answer."

She went back to ignoring me. I went to my room to change. As soon as I closed the door, I dropped to my knees and cried.

A few days passed and I went to work, business as usual. At least, it was until the third day.

Fox had shown up at the bunker looking like he was ready to punch somebody, that somebody being me. Channery came to me as soon as Fox arrived.

"You have a very pissed off brother wanting to see you," he told me.

I groaned and went to talk to Fox like he wanted.

"Make it quick, I'm working," I told him.

"What the hell happened between you and Falco?" he demanded.

I shrugged, trying to play it off. "I don't know what you mean."

"The hell you don't. I call him to find out where he is and he tells me that he's left Corneria. Then he gives me some ridiculous excuse, saying that he needed more action and that he couldn't sit around anymore waiting for a bullshit mission. I know that this has something to do with you. He went over to your place to surprise you and Conna and then, suddenly he's leaving a few days later? Seems a little too coincidental to me."

"I know it looks bad, Fox, but, I assure you that this has nothing to do with me," I lied. "He really is tired of sitting around waiting on an action mission. You can't blame him for that."

He was silent for a moment as I realized he was seeing right through me.

"What really happened?" he asked calmly.

I moved to sit on one of the weight benches and rubbed my eyes. The stress and guilt were tearing me up. Fox came over to sit next to me.

"You can talk to me, you know. I'm your brother."

I let out a long sigh. "I betrayed him, Fox… I betrayed Falco in the worst way possible…" I got up from the seat and started to pace. "He and I aren't even together but I feel like complete shit. I don't regret what I did but… Damn it…" I paused to look at my brother. "I slept with Wolf."

Fox's eyes widened. "Are… Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack."

Fox tried to wrap his mind around the new information. "Well… that explains why he left… But, Wolf? Skye, really?"

"Like I said, I don't regret it. Not for a single minute. Honestly, it was the most fun that I've had in quite a long time. You don't get to judge me."

Fox raised his hands in surrender. "I wasn't planning on it. Still, now I have a problem."

"I'm sorry, Fox… I know I've put you in a bind…"

He shook his head and rose from the bench. "It is what it is, Skye. There's nothing we can do now except go on with our lives. I'm sorry I came at you like I did."

"Don't be, brother. You were blind-sided. I'm still sorry for what happened."

He came to me and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It'll be fine. Besides, if I really need another pilot, I have you, right?" He took his leave at that.

Channery came from around the corner. "Everything alright?"

No, I thought. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I wanted to cry. I drove Falco away. I broke his heart and he left because of me. How could I have been so stupid?

I turned to my Captain. "I'll manage. I can't let this bother me. Falco has made his decision because of the choice I made. I have to live with that. Now, may we please get back to work? I need to take my mind off of all of this."