The hangover from the whiskey didn't allow Ben to remember much about the previous night. But from what he could remember, he knew that he never wanted to forget any of it.
In fact, the joy he got from making love to Vestara was what allowed him to pull himself out of bed and put his clothes back on while barely nursing his headache. Once he was fully clothed, he walked out of Vestara's bedroom and found her relaxing on her living room's sofa. She was sipping on a glass of water with an obvious hint of a hydrating solute in it while wearing a form-fitting scarlet bathrobe.
She turned her head to the left to look at him and gave him an even more satisfied smile than the one she greeted him with the previous night.
"Morning," Vestara said after taking another sip.
"Morning," he replied with a mixture of contentedness and pain. "You got anymore of that?"
Vestara motioned her drink hand over to the kitchen, between her and Ben. "In the sink. Surprisingly drinkable."
"No, I meant whatever you put in the water," Ben clarified.
"Oh, it's in the cupboard above the sink," Vestara said.
"Thanks," Ben said before he moved to the sink.
Moments later, he sat down next to Vestara, nursing the water with the same hydrating solute in it that should cure his own hangover. With his free arm, he wrapped it around Vestara's shoulders and began sipping on his solution while barely paying any attention to the Hapan holo reality show that she was watching. It had something to do with some air-headed aristocratic females judging some outfits worn by typically attractive Hapan women who were barely in their twenties; Ben had trouble concentrating since he was still trying to nurse his hangover.
Well, that, and the fact that Ves decided to rest her head on his shoulder while placing her own free arm across his lap; that definitely distracted him from the vapid reality show.
"You hungry yet?" Ves finally asked before taking another sip.
"Starved," Ben replied after a gulp. "Wanna go out and get somethin' to eat?"
She shook her head. "I can whip somethin' up." Ves moved to sit up.
"Oh, c'mon, you don't have to do that, Ves," Ben said as he pulled her back down to the sofa. She spilled a few drips from her glass upon landing. "Look, I can go ahead and do it. What do you want?"
"You c'mon," she replied playfully. "I'm the hostess. I should get you somethin' to eat."
Ben gave her a quirky smile. "Well, if you insist," he said. "Bacon and eggs?"
"Comin' right up," she replied before she stood up. Ben didn't pull Ves back down this time.
"So when do you have to get back to the Fountain Palace?" she asked once she was in the kitchen. By that point, she set her drink down on the counter.
"Honestly, I'm not on any concrete timetable," Ben replied as he grabbed the remote from where Ves was sitting and used it to change the channel. "But I guess I should probably call in about an hour before anyone over there wakes up."
"I bet it's nice over there. Even with all the renovations it's still undergoing," she said as she moved to the fridge to get out a carton of eggs and a package of bacon strips.
"Yeah, but it's not as nice as being with you," he said.
Ves giggled as she placed the carton and package next to the stove. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Ben."
"No, I mean it," he said as he stood up, leaving the holoplayer running on a random channel; it was displaying yet another fashion show. He walked over to the kitchen, his drink set down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "I do feel a lot better when I'm with you."
Ves grinned once he made it to the kitchen and stood before her. She even bit her lower lip and barely evaded his gaze. "Well, Ben, are you sure you want that breakfast?"
"I think it can wait," he said. "You?"
"I'm not hungry either," she said. Ves then moved in to kiss him while Ben began to undo the knot in the center of her robe.
But before they could go any further with what they intended to do (again), there was a knock on the door. They both stopped and looked to the door before looking back at each other, this time with shared confusion.
"You expecting anyone?" Ben asked.
Ves shook her head. "I'll go answer it."
"Please, allow me this time," Ben said. "I know you're the 'hostess' and whatnot, but I wanna check."
"Wait, can't you sense who's on the other side?" Ves asked.
Ben narrowed his eyes to the door. "Well... normally, I could, but this time... the presence is surprisingly... elusive."
Another knock came from the door, this one more insistent than the last.
"Go to the bedroom, lock yourself in," Ben said. "Could be trouble."
Ves gave no argument and did as he bid. Once the bedroom door was closed and shut, an even more insistent knock came from outside. Ben unhooked his lightsaber from his belt and very gingerly stepped over to the door.
And when he peeked through the peephole, his eyes widened at who he saw there.
"Ben, I know you're in there," Jacen said from outside. "I could hear you. Now open up."
Ben gritted his teeth as he backed away from the peephole, leaving the door still closed and locked. "How'd you find me?" he asked.
"I used the Force to track your presence, obviously," Jacen said.
"Then why couldn't I sense you?" Ben asked.
"I have my ways of masking my own presence," Jacen replied impatiently. "Now, please, open the door."
"Why should I?" Ben asked. "Shouldn't you be back at the Fountain Palace with your wife?"
"Ben, what are you doing in there? Who are you with?"
"That's none of your business! Now go away!"
"Don't make me cut this door down, Ben."
"You wouldn't dare," Ben growled.
The snap-hiss of a lightsaber sounded from the other side. "Wanna bet?" Jacen asked, his tone challenging. "You have five seconds."
"Oh, please, you really wanna destroy public property just to get to me?"
"Four."
"This would be called breaking and entering, you know."
"Three."
"With your reputation, I doubt even Allana's influence can bail you out of this one."
"She's Queen Mother; her word is law on this planet, and she'll understand why I had to do it. Two."
Ben sighed irritably. "All right, all right, I'll open the damn door."
When the door was open, Jacen had his lightsaber deactivated and hooked back to his belt.
"May I come in?" Jacen asked in a mock-cordial tone.
"We can talk outside."
"No, I really think I should come in," Jacen said before he moved past Ben and into the apartment.
Ben looked aghast at his cousin as Jacen was surveying the apartment. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" the younger Jedi asked.
"Just wondering what was so special about this place that prompted you to stay the night," Jacen said casually while still surveying the apartment.
Ben gasped. "You followed me here, didn't you?"
"Ben, I told you, I didn't have to follow you," Jacen said as he looked back at him. "I used the Force to track you here."
"You have no right to be here," Ben countered as he leveled an accusatory finger up to the older man. "Now get lost!"
Before Jacen could say anything, the bedroom door opened.
"Ben, is everything all right?" Ves asked, looking concerned. Her bathrobe was tied up into a knot in the center again.
"Ves, please, go back into the bedroom, let me handle this," Ben said.
"Ves, huh?" Jacen asked as he looked toward her. "So you're the reason Ben spent the night here, I assume?"
"Don't answer him, Ves, just back into your room," Ben said with some desperation in his tone.
"No, Ben, please," Ves said, "I can speak for myself."
That shut Ben up; but the reluctance on his expression was quite obvious.
"Yes, I'm the reason Ben spent the night in my apartment," Ves confirmed as she stepped out of her room and walked toward him. "My name is Vestara Khai." She held her hand out for him to shake. "And you must be Ben's cousin, Jacen."
"That's correct, I am Ben's cousin," Jacen affirmed as he shook her hand, "and his legal guardian. And as his legal guardian, I must ask what was he doing here last night?"
"Quite frankly, Jedi Solo," Ves said with a stern voice as she broke off the handshake, "as Ben himself said before you threatened to chop my door down to enter my apartment, that's none of your business." The shy and concerned persona that she had when she opened the bedroom door had been quickly replaced by someone with an authority that was beyond her years.
Jacen looked at her in askance. "Are your parents home, Vestara? Or do you prefer Ves?"
"Miss Khai will do for you, Jedi Solo. And, no, my parents aren't home. They're off on sabbatical."
"Really? What do they do for a living, Miss Khai?"
"How many questions are you going to ask that aren't any of your concern, Jedi Solo?"
"You assume they're none of my concern when nothing could be further from the truth, especially when you have my cousin mixed up in whatever you got going on here."
"And what exactly do you think I have going on here, Jedi Solo?"
"You tell me. You're obviously too young to be living in a place like this on your own. So it makes me wonder what you do with your spare time with my cousin."
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little too old to need a babysitter; my parents trust me to keep the place tidy when they're gone."
"I bet they do. So how long have you and Ben known each other, Miss Khai?"
"Jacen, can you please leave?!" Ben finally shouted. "This is none of your concern!"
"Ben, who is she?" Jacen asked. "How long have you been keeping her a secret from me?"
"I don't have to answer any of your questions," Ben growled. "Now leave before I really get angry."
Ben made a deliberately conspicuous motion for the lightsaber on his belt.
Jacen looked nonplussed back at his cousin. "Really, Ben? You're gonna try to kill me over this?"
"I thought there was only do or do not," Ben intoned. "That there was no try."
The tension in the room became thick with silence.
"Fine," Jacen said. "Have it your way. But don't think I won't get your father involved in this."
Ben sneered. "Oh, what, you're gonna tattle on me? Oooh, I'm so scared. Go ahead, I dare you. What are you gonna tell him? That I've been with a girl that I didn't tell you about and that you threatened to cut her door down just to find out who she was? Please. Now are you gonna leave or not?"
"I'll go, I'll go," Jacen said with hands raised up as he moved past Ben to the door. "But you know this isn't over."
"With you, it's never over," Ben said.
Jacen said nothing more; he only gave his cousin a pitied glare before he finally left.
When Jacen was gone and the door was closed behind him, Ben finally let out a sigh of frustrated relief. He then walked back to the living room and crashed down upon the sofa, his headache becoming a pounding rhythm that he tried desperately to massage at the temples.
"You okay?" Ves asked once she joined him. When she sat down next to him, she was the one to put her arm around his shoulders.
He nodded without looking at her. "I'll get over it." He then looked at her, his hands dropping away from his head. "Look, I'm sorry about him coming in here like that and being rude to you. It's just that-"
"Hey, hey, you have nothing to explain or apologize for," Ves interrupted as she pulled him in closer. She then allowed his head to lay across her lap. "As he said, he's your cousin and legal guardian. He's concerned for you."
"That doesn't give him any excuse over what he did coming over here like that," Ben replied.
Ves allowed a moment of silence to pass before she said, "No, of course it doesn't. So, then, what do you think you're gonna do about it?"
"Let him talk to my dad first," he replied. "Then when he gets my side of the story, he'll see how right I am. I can make my own decisions; Jacen doesn't have to butt in on every little thing I do."
"Indeed, not," Ves said with a barely discernible grin. She allowed yet another silent moment to pass before she asked, "Ben?"
"Hmm?"
"Would you really have tried to kill your cousin if he didn't leave?"
This time, Ben sat up and looked directly at her; Ves had barely gotten rid of the grin before promptly replacing it with her previous look of concern.
"Honestly, Ves? I would have."
She allowed her eyes to widen in surprise before she said, "Wow. Wow, Ben. I didn't know you felt... that strongly for me."
"Oh, I do" he said with a nod. "That wasn't just sweet talk. I'd do anything for you."
"Really? Anything?"
He nodded.
Ves looked away for a moment before giving him a grin that was much more mischievous. "You know, when you say that to a girl... you're inviting yourself to be challenged." She then moved her hand smoothly down his face before slipping it down the collar of his shirt.
"I'm a Jedi, Ves. I like challenges."
"And I love to hear that." She then grabbed his shirt and took it off for him right before they each moved to embrace each other in a passionate kiss.