The weeks flew by. Before I knew it I had been living at Pans for over two months. I managed to get flying down in only about 3 days. After that we started flying to school. It let us cut almost an hour off our travel time both ways, allowing us to sleep a good bit longer.

After dinner one day I took my lightsaber outside and went behind the house. The forest loomed on the edge of the yard, a good 100 feet away. The shadows were lengthening under the trees, lending a slightly ominous air to the yard. I held the hilt of the saber up in front of me and lit it. The emerald blade beat back the deepening shadows, illuminating the yard and casting a jagged shadow of myself against the wall.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Dropping into a slight crouch, I shifted my left leg back and twisted my body slightly to the left. I held the blade in a two handed grip at waist level, angled slightly away from me. I let myself go, like I did when moving things using the Force, and trusted my subconscious to tell me what to do. It didn't disappoint.

I started striking the air, using short quick slices and jabs. My technique was sloppy, but workable. I could somehow tell when a move I made could have been done better, but didn't yet know how to fix it. It was just another instance of my subconscious knowing what to do without my input. I let loose a flurry of strikes, focusing on a tree in the distance, imagining it directly in front of me. As I finished I amazed myself by dropping to the ground and executing a near flawless sweep followed by a rising roundhouse. My breath slowed as I let the blade drop, turning it off. The sound of soft clapping from behind made me jump slightly.

When I turned around Pan was leaning against the back door of the house. "Bravo. I didn't know you had it in you."

I grinned sheepishly. "Neither did I, honestly. I'm amazed I didn't trip over my own feet with that last one."

"I thought you were gonna slice off your leg."

"Oh, thanks for your concern." She smiled sweetly.

"Come on inside, it's movie night." I followed her inside and settled into one of the chairs in front of the TV.

Later that night found me lying on the roof, hands behind my head, gazing up at the night sky. The window to my room was sitting open a few feet to my right. I closed my eyes and thought of home.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I opened my eyes and looked toward the voice. Pan was sitting on the edge of my window, legs resting on the sloped surface of the house.

"My dad was an astronomer. I was just thinking how I wish I had listened to him more when he was pointing out stars and constellations and things." I sighed a little.

Pan moved to sit beside me. "You miss 'em, huh?" I nodded. She looked up at the sky. "I know it's not really the same, but my grandpa's out there somewhere, and I miss him too. I was really close to him while I was growing up, and sometimes I just wish he'd come back so bad I could scream." She looked down at me and smiled a little. "Like I said, not the same."

"Maybe, but it's close." I closed my eyes again. A few second later I felt a breath of air on my cheek and opened my eyes. Pan had moved; her face was inches from mine, hovering above me. My breath caught in my throat. Her eyes looked back and forth between mine, searching. I blinked, feeling very much like a deer in headlights. After a few seconds she closed the distance between us and kissed me. It was a soft, tentative thing, and it didn't last long. She pulled back and looked at me. I opened my mouth, then closed it again without speaking.

"I don't know what this means," she said softly. I nodded. "I like you, I know that for sure, but I haven't known you very long. And the fact you're living with me, putting us with each other every day, that might have affected things. So just know that I'm not sure yet."

"No problem." She smiled a little and sat up. I stared at the sky, still a little stunned. We sat in silence for 10 or 15 minutes before Pan stirred.

"I think I'm gonna head for bed."

"Yeah, I think I'll go with you." She leveled a dark gaze on me, and what I had said echoed in my brain. "Oh, crap, that's not what I meant. I mean I'll go in with you and…" I trailed off as I saw the humor flickering in her gaze. I glared and she laughed. She scooted over to my window and slid inside. I walked her out of my room and to her door. She opened it and turned to me. She stared at me for a long moment then, moving close, reached up and grabbed the back of my head. She pulled me close and kissed me again, longer this time. When she pulled back I was feeling rather flushed.

"Good night," she said softly, giving me a tiny smile, just the barest curve at the corners of her mouth, before slipping into her room and closing the door. I rested my head silently on her door, the wood cool against my forehead. I stayed that way for a few moments before pulling back and walking into the bathroom. When I saw myself in the mirror I saw I was grinning broadly.

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The next morning I rose happily, going through my morning routine with a perpetual smile on my face. As I went into the kitchen, the smile faded some. Pan was hunched over her plate, looking tired. She glanced up at me before focusing completely on her food. I frowned, my eyebrows coming down and my forehead crinkling. We ate in silence before heading out the door.

We took flight, heading in the direction of the city. We flew in silence, Pan slightly ahead and to the left of me. She was staring down at the ground, lost in thought. After a few minutes I pulled up beside her and touched her arm. She jumped and fell a few feet before she caught herself. She looked at me hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Can we land for a second?"

She nodded and started dropping to the ground. We landed on a small mesa, a road winding around the base some distance below us. I looked at her, she looked down, past me, to the side; basically anywhere but at me.

"Are you OK?" I asked, stepping a little closer.

She stared at the ground. "I'm sorry about last night…"

I blinked. Sorry? "Why are you…" She cut me off, the words flowing from her faster than I could process them.

"I'm sorry I dropped that on you. You were thinking about your family and I threw that stupid teenage girl crap in your lap. I shouldn't have, I should have thought first, you're probably mad at me…"

I held up my hands, palms toward her as if to ward off the words. "Woah, woah, hang on. I'm not mad. I hadn't even thought of that." I smiled reassuringly. "Believe me, I'm happy about what happened." I frowned again. "Are you?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened again. "Yeah," she began hesitantly, "of course, I just thought…" She shrugged weakly. I stepped up to her and put my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me, the worried look still in her eyes.

"Look, don't worry about me. Yeah I miss my family, but you're right here. I know you're not sure about this, but I'm willing to wait and see. Hell, I'm happy to wait."

Finally a real smile appeared on her. She nodded. "Sorry. I was being dumb." I shrugged.

"Nothing I'm not used to." I hopped back out of her reach before what I said could sink in and took off into the sky. Half a second later I heard an outraged shout, followed by the sound of Pan launching herself after me. She caught up quickly, giving me a good solid smack on the arm. I laughed and rubbed my arm, flying on.

At lunch we were sitting as usual, Pan and Bra on one side of the table, me on the other. Bra was flipping through a newspaper she had brought with her from home.

"Ugh, did you see that red carpet show last night?"

Pan stared at Bra. "You're asking me if I watched a bunch of celebrities stroll down a rug babbling about their personal lives for an hour."

Bra looked up. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Anyway, this one woman was wearing this godawful pink thing. No idea what she was thinking."

Pan reached over and grabbed a piece of the paper Bra had put aside. "If I had it my way I'd stick to the funny pages." She flipped the paper open and started scanning the pages absently. "Huh. Look at this; a bunch of stores got robbed last night. There was someone sitting in the middle of the store in every one of 'em, just waiting to get picked up." She looked at me and smirked. "Guess they didn't want to bother waiting to get home to be arrested." I smirked. Bra looked at me then at Pan, eying us oddly.

"You OK?" I asked for the second time that day. Bra gazed at me before nodding.

"Something happened between you two," she declared.

I sputtered softly. "Huh…what makes you say that?" Pan rolled her eyes.

"Good work, she'll never suspect a thing," she muttered. Bra's eyes widened.

"Something did happen! What? Go on, spill it." Pan glared at me, causing me to shrink back a bit and shrug helplessly. I decided to evacuate temporarily. I stood.

"I'm gonna go get a soda, you two get the girl talk out of the way." I walked down the hall, got a soda out of the vending machine, and walked back. By the time I made it back to the table Pan had filled Bra in on everything. I sat and Bra looked at me.

"Well, lucky you. You get the girl and don't have to do any work." I looked down, feeling embarrassed. Bra slapped my arm. "I'm just kidding, you mook." She and Pan moved on, talking about everything and nothing.

At the end of the day the three of us wandered around like we often did, Pan and Bra stopping in different stores to look around, me tailing behind. We passed a shop that looked somewhat worse for wear. A portion of the store was closed off with police tape, random merchandise scattered around the area that was roped off.

The clerk was regaling anyone who'd listen about how she'd caught the thief that had robbed the store single handedly. She was a little older than we were, probably about college age, and was loving the attention she was getting. As we passed I heard "yeah, he was just sitting there. Didn't even seem to notice me. When the cops showed up he looked around like he had no idea where he was. Good actor, but he didn't fool me." As my gaze passed the roped off area and I took in the chaos, the broken glass and scattered goods, I felt a twinge of unease and shook my head.

Farther down the block Pan and Bra turned into yet another store, Pan assuring me we were almost done. I responded, not paying much attention. A flyer tacked to a telephone pole had caught my eye. It was a colorful piece of paper advertising the coming of the annual fair. An idea hit me. Oh, come on, the fair? Like that's not cliché. As I thought about it, it started to seem like a better and better idea. I continued to think about it until we were halfway home, soaring above vast hilly fields. I sped up to get next to Pan.

"Hey, Pan." She looked at me. I tried to sound nonchalant, but thought I could hear the faint quaver of nervousness in my voice. "You ever been to the fair?"

She looked at me, brow crinkling as she thought over the question. Oh man, that was a dumb start. Of course she's been to the fair. Then her face cleared and she smiled knowingly.

"Yeah, but I'm always up for another visit, if you're offering?" I felt a smile appear on my face unbidden and nodded. She darted closer and hooked her arm in mine. "Then it's a date." If I hadn't already been flying, I'm sure from the way I felt that I would've taken off had I wanted to or not.