The next day, Luke spent a large part of his day in the clearing with Vanech, and Kess spent a large part of hers back in a flight suit and getting happily dirty on the Falcon. With this opportunity to fix units while not in use, and with all the tools she could possibly need, and with the trust of Han or Chewie, Kess made record time on the repairs. Most of it didn't need to be fixed as much as it needed to be re-fixed. The jobs were to repair correctly what was a hurried, shoddy patching amidst some disaster. Han was so pleased by her progress that he rewarded her by giving her more work to do.

Luke and Kess agreed to let the sleepovers take a rest so they could manage some real sleep. They meditated deeper when they were away from each other anyway. But when the evening came, they 'accidentally' ran into each other at the Hot Shop by the grinder.

They sipped cups of sweetened java on a picnic bench under a yellow street light and chatted for hours. At first, they talked about Vanech's progress and ideas how to approach Nik and Gina so they could get permission to train Ben too. Then they talked about the Falcon repairs and how Han was treating Kess like one of the crew. Luke didn't seem surprised by it. He just seemed proud of it.

He gave her that look again, and she asked again. But Luke stretched his grin in failed attempt at a shrugging frown and whispered it again. "Not yet."

Kess laughed it off but didn't say it aloud. Just buy me the damn chocolate already. It's not rocket science.

They ended up regaling their secret reactions to each other's bullshit during her training. This brought upon another hour of tittering laughter, followed by a settling sigh and a bright-eyed glow to stare into each other's eyes.

"So I have a question for you," she posed, almost timidly. She wasn't entirely confident she'd get an answer to this one.

Luke sat almost sideways on the park bench, resting his cheek against his fist so he could stare at her. "What's that?"

She tried to figure out how to word it before she squinted at him. "Now that it's over, what would you have done differently in my training?"

"Hm." His eyes narrowed at the night air. He cocked his head. "That I had a choice about?"

"Sure, we can start there." Kess wanted it all.

He flashed a smile and gave her a quick answer. "I would've started your training a lot sooner."

This wasn't what she expected. "Why didn't you?"

"Fear." He said it to her face. "I wasn't convinced I was ready to start training anyone. I got so little of it myself, and since Ben trained my father, I knew what the risks were if I got it wrong."

Kess angled her head to nod at that assessment. Her eyes shifted back, "Anything else?"

He inhaled a full smile, "I wouldn't have kissed you as soon as I did."

She grinned, but she shrugged. "I'm not sure that would've delayed anything."

"It would've delayed you turning to the dark side," he pointed out with a smile.

She sobered to discomfort.

He explained easily, "You were frustrated because you already knew I wanted you. You just didn't know it yet. Kissing you in the clearing that day with the dud sabers just got you more confused."

She had to nod at that too. "Yeah, that's true."

"But I don't regret it," he pointed out, "if that holds any sand."

It did, so she came back with more. "Anything else?"

Luke shrugged. "Little things, I guess. I already gave you all those notes. Didn't that answer it all?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I just like hearing you talk, y'know, without biting your own words back. I'm still getting used to that."

His hand shrugged from his knee. "Ask away."

She smiled over, warmed by the open invitation.

"I'm still getting used to it too," he said. "I'll take all the practice you throw at me."

Kess thought about it for a moment, trying to find something that would be a topic starter. "Tell me something you wish you could have said but didn't."

His brow arched with a chuckle, "Other than 'I love you'?"

She chuckled too. She wasn't tired of hearing that, but she nodded.

Luke's eyes went to the night sky and searched his memory. His face began with a grin about it, but it faded. His Force Print swelled with fear of heartbreak. "Don't date anybody," he said it quietly, and his eyes landed on her again. "Wait for me."

She whispered, "I did wait for you."

"Yeah, but I couldn't ask you to."

She chuckled, "You tried."

"I admit that." He nodded at his lap. "I overstepped my bounds a couple of times."

She fidgeted with a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, it was a good thing."

"Why do you say that?"

Kess shrugged bashfully, "I was about ready to start dating someone else just because you pissed me off so bad."

"Who?" The question escaped his lips without stopping by his mind for permission.

She shrugged again, "Oh, no one specific." She met his eye with that truth. "Just to get out. Y'know? Have something of my own that was still me."

Luke fidgeted with his ear.

"Towards the end there, that couple weeks before I quit, I was looking for things that were just me. It felt like you'd stolen all of it. I had all the pilots breathing down my neck about the ground, and your training was getting harder, and I just—my mind craved something that wasn't related to any of it."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Well, you did what you had to. I understand that now. But back then it felt like the status quo was going to last forever. Meditation helped a lot, but. . . . Sometimes I just wanted to go to the library and read some novel to get my mind away from it all, but I didn't have time. And, after that lightsaber fumble at the party, going out with the crowd like I used to didn't have the same effect. I was always too afraid I was going to make another mistake."

Luke began to understand. He felt a little guilty about it, but most of what she was talking about was timing. The training and grounding Rogue Group should not have happened simultaneously. The truth was, he delayed her graduation because he was afraid of doing it too soon. And he'd worked her so hard because he had fallen into the delightful habit of using training as an excuse just to hang out with her. The best he could do, he decided, was noted this information for future trainees. Even Jedi need Bendudays off.

With a new respect for her independence, (and renewed curiosity of 'who' it was) he lifted his chin and fidgeted with his ear some more. "So why didn't you?"

"Why didn't I what?"

"Date someone?"

Her face flashed with humor. "Because you told him 'no'."

He chortled, "Oh, Wedge doesn't count. He was only thinking about it because someone else told him to. Didn't anyone else ask you?"

Kess suddenly remembered Wedge's 'untold story'. She hadn't thought about it at all since the day she figured it out. She decided to change the subject before an accidental revelation created un-substantiated worry.

She shook her head mid-sip of her java. "Mm mm. Nope. Everyone pretty much treated me like I was already spoken for."

Luke kept her eyes and smiled distantly. He whispered, "You were."

She grinned.

"I just didn't tell anyone about it."

"My friends guessed because they knew me."

"Same here." He flashed a deep laugh. "You should've seen Wedge light into me. That day I ripped your head off about the party thing? Oh man! He has never cussed me out like that before."

"What did he say?"

Luke imitated the expression as best he could, "'Don't me that crap, I met you fresh off the farm.'"

Kess laughed.

"It wasn't the first time he called me on it either. He figured us out early."

Kess realized how true that was and decided again they needed to shift topics. Quickly. "You know what I wish we would have done different?"

"Hm?"

"I think it would have been easier if we hadn't gone to the clearing so often."

His brows lifted. "Really?"

"It was too . . . intimate. At a time when we were trying to convince ourselves not to be. It was like a test, every day. It was easier to, I don't know, 'behave'?, when we were anywhere else."

"Hm." He angled his head. "Not that I'm going to have that problem again, but that's something I should put in the training notes."

"I would've said something before," a guilty grin grew, "but I liked it."

That was the dark side at work, Luke knew, but he was guilty of it as well. He nodded at himself that she made a good point for both of them. "Me too."

They stared into each other's eyes for a very long time, both grins growing into big flushing smiles.

Finally, she admitted. "I want to ask more just to get you talking, but I can't think of anything else to ask."

"Well. It's not like it's your last chance," he pointed out. "This is the new status quo."

She flushed, "I'm still getting used to that."

His eyes were intense. His grin was deep. His voice was nearly a whisper. "Get used to it."

He watched how she bit her lower lip as if to attempt to keep her smile from wrapping around to the back of her head.

"But," he angled his head the other way, and sighed maturely. "We have to get to bed."

Kess nodded. "Yeah, I know." It must've been nearly midnight by now, but neither bothered to check chronos to know it. She rattled her long empty cup. "The last thing we need going into this thing is a lack of sleep."

One by one, they stood and stepped over to throw their cups into a nearby recycle bin. After which, he turned to her and opened his arms. Kess dove into his body and hugged him like he was desperately-needed oxygen. Luke hugged her back just as hard.

But his mind snagged on what he wanted to do next. This was in public, technically, though no one was out here to see it. Maybe some distant security camera, but . . . who cares?

In his nervousness, he fumbled to kiss her, landing a long shy smooch on the mouth. After a beat, she opened her mouth for more.

Luke couldn't help but take it. And this was the dark side at work too. One inch . . . and he immediately wanted the whole mile. He kissed her long and slow, but let it fall away and brought his brain back to what they were supposed to be doing.

"Good night."

She smiled satisfied. "Good night."

Luke had to put his hands in his pockets to keep them from doing anything else. It helped. As he rocked away on his heels, his eyes hovered back as far as they could reach, but he ripped himself away from it and forced himself to go home alone.

He could sense her back there. She was practically skipping with glee as she went back to her own barracks.

Luke crossed the street with a cocksure strut. He rolled his shoulders back, lifted his chin, and thought it audibly. Get used to it.