Mira felt nervous for some reason. Next to her a remarkably silent Atton walked, his hands clasped behind his back, even his emotions seemed muted, introvert. The jedi temple seemed emptier then normal, the rooms pale grey under the light of two full moons shining through the vast windows. The air was cool against her skin...soothing.

The only sound was that of their feet as they walked down the familiar path to their improvised sleeping arrangements. Well...Mira could hear her own heart slamming against her chest, but Atton didn't...right? She glanced up at him, biting her lip in nervousness. He made no indication that anything was out of place, he merely looked...confused.

What the hell was she nervous about anyway? The ball had gone as good as one could hope, swimmingly even thanks to Atton. They were a step closer to Olmark pressing a vote with success...heck, soon she would be rid of this useless dress and get to bed without having to worry about anything.

Not that she would be able to sleep, the nervousness seemed to make her every nerve tingle and make her breathing shallow, as if she was about to leap into battle. There was no reason for it either! How was she going to stop the agitation if she didn't know why it was there!? Damn frustrating...she snorted.

"What?" Atton whispered the question, as if worried he'd disturb the peace in the temple.

"Uh...nothing." Mira shook her head, unable to come up with something original. Ugh, it had been easy coming up with stuff when she had been arguing with him on the ride back to the temple...why was it so difficult now all of a sudden? Maybe she needed to get angry with him again? Though that would be difficult...he had done good.

"You know..." Mira looked at her feet, or what little showed under the hem of her dress, force she sounded meek.... "...you did kind of good today, excellent even."

"Thank you." Huh...that's it? No laugh? No bragging? Why was he so muted? Did he miss that Zeltron tart so much? "I hope you didn't mind handling the friendly senators too much...I know how annoying they can get." Okay, this was weird, did he actually express concern? Maybe he had hit his head?

Mira bit her lower lip, fiddling with her suddenly annoying hands, not really sure where to put them. Why didn't these dresses have pockets? "Oh it was no problem, boring but...better that then make a fool out of myself by striking those ones you talked to. Erm...nice work...again."

Atton chuckled, a polite and muted sound revealing his hesitation. What was he hesitating about anyway? He seemed as nervous as she was...and over nothing either. "I enjoyed the discussion with them, that's why it was so calm. Besides, I don't think you would have done any other way...you're too smart for that."

A nervous laughter escaped Mira as she realised they had reached their destination. The small corridor had two doors on each side of it. The left one leading into Mira's quarters, a quite spacious room that once might have belonged to some other jedi. The right led to Atton's...which seemed to have once been some sort of guard room.

Not that Mira was all that interested in his...erm...the rooms. Mira felt a slight flush begin around her throat and could only hope that the pale light concealed it. "Maybe not...we'll never know. Erm, we're here now..."

"Ah, right." Atton made a move for his door, only to stop mid step. Mira took a deep breath as he turned back to her, an odd look on his face. "Erm...this was nice, we worked well...I...just wanted to say that." Was he blushing? No...a mere trick of the light. He did look uncomfortable though.

"No problem, I...kind of liked it to." Mira pushed her hair back furtively as she watched Atton shift from foot to foot, the man looking everywhere but at her. "Erm..." Oh force this was embarrassing! Just go to your room! Why were you even standing around anymore!? Why didn't she want to move?

"Right...erm...I'll just..."

"Uh...right! Could you help me?" Mira swallowed her embarrassment and turned around, feeling her body becoming uncomfortably warm. "Erm..." Come on! Don't...do whatever your planning. "Um...could you zip me down?" Oh force! She did not just ask him to...

"Uh...erm...okay." Atton muttered. She could hear him step closer...carefully...almost as if he was afraid.

Mira felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as Atton's warm breath washed over her. He was close...she almost winced at the light touch atop the back of her dress, the pinprick of a small fingernail touching her skin forcing a sharp intake of breath...force she felt sensitive! "Just pull downwards." Oh man, how stupid could she be? Instructing him how to pull down a zipper, was she an idiot?

Atton cleared his throat, his voice shaking. "O...okay." Mira felt the pressure on her torso diminish with the sound of the descending zipper...and the cold air as it struck her back, sending a not too unpleasant shiver down her spine. Force...stop breathing like that...he'll notice. Why was it so difficult to stand all of a sudden?

He was done, it had been pulled down all the way.

Yet the hands didn't disappear. Instead they slipped up, fingertips gently sliding over her skin...Mira swallowed down a moan...and sighed as the hands came to rest on her shoulders. They were rough and callused...and Mira could swear she could feel every detail through her warm skin. He had to feel it...

Atton made no indication that he had felt her blush, instead his hands trailed over to her neck, carefully working the clasp to her necklace. Oh, so he didn't mean anything with it? He was just being friendly...right? Mira tensed at the sound of the necklace snapping open, the heavy pearls being pulled away.

Holding his arms out over her shoulders Atton held out the jewellery before them, hands carefully moving over the expensive item. Was he closer? Force he was...she could feel his presence, his chest mere inches from her back... Couldn't he step closer? Just a little... "It's beautiful..."

Realising Atton had whispered the words to her she forced herself to speak, her voice small: "Yes...a gift from Olmark..." She couldn't stop herself from taking a step back. Atton's smooth uniform felt wonderful against her bare skin...Mira felt as if she was burning up. "It's...it's..." She couldn't finish the sentence. "Force...what are we doing?"

"We have..." Atton muttered, not really a protest...a mere...something.

Mira shook her head, pushing her hands to her chest. "That was...different."

"Y...yeah." The pressure against her back diminished a little as Atton tried to step away. "I should...I don't..." He pushed back again, torn. Holding the pearls with one hand he put them back on her shoulders, making her gasp as the cold pearls came to rest over her collarbone and down the slope between her breasts. Force, those hands... "Tell me to leave."

Mira bit her lip, at the point of hyperventilating and her body afire. She really should...but didn't want...it was wrong! Didn't feel wrong though...in fact, it felt really...really right. So right that she was ready to explode... But it was wrong...it would be so complicated. It was different from before...so wrong...

"I...I can't." She reached up and pulled at her dress, gasping as the thing stopped defying gravity and fell into a pile around her feet, force the air was cold! It felt nice...

"I won't."