Yes I know - I suck I suck I suck. Sorry to be so long updating this. RL has been... interesting lately, and my writing time has been reduced to almost nothing. Thanks for all the comments and reminders to continue. I don't know when the next update will be but I'll try my best to write more for you!
Now, where were we...
Chloe fiddled with a shoulder strap of her expensive emerald satin evening gown and scanned the refreshments table slowly, wondering how much time she could waste choosing a drink. It was hopeless, of course, given the event was scheduled to continue for at least another two hours. That meant two more hours of trying to talk to people she didn't know, about things she had never taken the time to fully understand; of talking and trying to eat exotic food from a flimsy plate, without embarrassing herself by spilling unpredictable sauces and crumbs down the front of a dress that redefined the meaning of uncomfortable.
Settling on a glass of pale yellow, gently fizzing Veronian wine, she slipped into the shadow of one of the vast, carved marble pillars that supported the ceiling of the Jedi Temple's stately Grand Hall and let her eyes roam over the crowded the room. The cream of Coruscant's senators, diplomats and business leaders were all in attendance, and the colourful patchwork of elegant suits, painted smiles and expensive dresses almost seemed to glow in the soft lighting, the impressive display interrupted only here and there by the staid brown robes and restrained expressions of the Jedi.
Tonight was an event with a single purpose: to convince those outside the Order that the rumours were unfounded, that the Jedi were in control, and were fully capable of wining the war. Unfortunately for Chloe, such a situation demanded silky-smooth charm or, in the very least, artfully exaggerated confidence - not the stilted conversational skills of a lowly security analyst, whose usual solution to a tendency to put her foot in her mouth was to keep that mouth firmly shut, or better still finding a damn good reason not to attend in the first place. But worming her way out of tonight had never been an option. The singularity of her position as an intern had made Chloe's presence a "necessity", and such a wording of invitation, coming direct from Master Yoda himself, was not one easy to decline.
Chloe sighed, watching the bubbles in her glass float to the surface of the liquid. For an indulgent few seconds, she allowed herself to wish that Obi-Wan was here. Unfairly and unbearably, the very morning after the eventful day of the hostage crisis on Tundi; the morning after the evening when he had kissed her in a storage room in at the back of a grimy cantina, both he and Anakin had been called away from Coruscant. With limited security clearance, and not quite daring to use any unorthodox techniques to delve into the Temple intranet, Chloe hadn't been able to find out where they'd gone, or when they would come back.
That night, Obi-Wan had escorted her home exactly as he promised. Looking up at him in the yellow, flickery security light by the door to her apartment building, Chloe found herself struggling to say goodbye. She wanted to ask him to stay, but hesitated, not sure what his reaction would be.
"There's no rush," Obi-Wan said, quietly, before she had chance to say anything at all. He bent to place a gentle kiss on her lips. "Just… think about it."
And before she could tell him that, actually, she'd had it with thinking, and could he please just make the decision and take her to bed before she lost the few remaining scraps of her sanity, he'd gone, with nothing more than a promise to call the next day.
But when he called, she'd just dashed out to buy groceries, and she returned to find a message hurriedly apologising that he had to go away.
That had been sixteen days ago.
"Miss O'Brian?"
Chloe flinched at the interruption and looked up to find Mace Windu standing in front of her. He was accompanied by a curiously mismatched couple: a very tall, hook-nosed, stern-faced humanoid male and a tiny, timid-looking, attractive female of the same species. Both had skin a vibrant shade of purple.
"May I introduce Senator Alit Orta and his newly-elected successor, Riyo Chuchi of Pantora," Mace said, with a gracious nod and a wave of his hand. "This is Chloe O'Brian, our intern from the Academy. She's been working closely with us on military intelligence matters. " Chloe fixed smile on her face and extended her hand towards the male senator. He shook it limply and frowned at her. She fought the urge to scowl back, and instead turned to greet his companion.
A few minutes later, Chloe found herself bored but at the same time thankful; Senator Orta had launched into a lecture on the military history of Pantora, and while the subject matter might have been duller than one of Li-Sei's sermons on procedure for the loaning of pencil sharpeners, the senator (unlike Chloe's co-worker) did not seem to notice whether she was actually listening. As his voice droned on, Chloe's gaze was drawn towards a sudden movement by the main doorway of the hall.
A wave of tingles rushed up her back, a surge of blood flooding her cheeks.
Obi-Wan?
Yes. It really was him. Looking rather battle-worn and tired (and handsome, good Gods ten times more handsome than her memory had let her believe), there he was, shaking hands and bowing courteously as he made his way around the room.
Chloe dragged her eyes away, suppressing a sudden urge to beam in delight, half closing her eyes in the effort to re-focus on the senator's speech. Mace was still standing next to her, after all, and although she had no knowledge of his opinion on Jedi relationships, she would guess it was not favourable.
She had replied to Obi-Wan's message in a roundabout way, two days after he left, by forwarding him a copy of her notes on the program she developed for the Tundi mission, and ending her message:
I regret not asking you to stay that night. Perhaps you didn't want to. Thinking about it has only made me realise my instincts were correct. My answer was, and still is, yes.
C
Had he even received the message yet? She could not be certain, and it was likely he had been distracted by whatever crisis he and Anakin had been called away to resolve.
Caught in her thoughts, Chloe only half-noticed when Mace turned and bowed in greeting, smiling over her shoulder.
"Master Kenobi! I was relieved to hear the operation was a success, despite the difficulties you encountered."
Chloe had spun around before she could stop herself, breathing in sharply as Obi-Wan's eyes met hers. She saw a flash of amusement there, and the warmth of familiarity in the beginnings of a smile that widened before he bowed to Mace. "Thank you, Master Windu." Obi-Wan turned back to Chloe and inclined his head. "Miss O'Brian."
He clasped her hand, and, as Chloe heard the male senator from Pantora ask Mace a question, Obi-Wan's eyes very quickly left hers to flick right down to her flimsy silver sandals and then back up again. Her skin flushed in the path of his gaze, and suddenly her dress felt more revealing than uncomfortable. A little tendril of excitement radiating from the base of her spine and wrapped itself around her body. Obi-Wan smiled.
"Master Kenobi, may I introduce Senator Alit Orta and his newly-elected successor, Riyo Chuchi of Pantora…" Mace began, and Chloe wondered if Senator Orta would engage Obi-Wan in a long discussion on military history. Although it was almost unbearable to be so close to him and have to hide how she was feeling, she would rather stand here in torment for an hour than have him leave again.
Obi-Wan spoke politely with the Pantorians for a while, and Chloe, happily resigned to the position of spectator, trying to draw her conscious thoughts away from Obi-Wan, began to realise why Mace seemed to be lavishing so much attention on this particular couple. It appeared that Senator Orta had been a fairly vocal critic of the Jedi. Clearly Mace hoped the new senator would not inherit her predecessor's cynicism.
"Now, your excellencies, Master Windu, would you please be so kind as to excuse me?" Obi-Wan said, eventually, and Chloe's heart slumped a little at the prospect. But then he continued. "The mission resulted in some security issues which I'm afraid I must discuss urgently with Miss O'Brian."
"Nothing critical, I hope," said Senator Orta, smoothly.
"Not at all," Obi-Wan replied, looking the tall senator straight in the eye. "It is our policy to deal with such matters before they can become critical."
And Chloe barely had time to contain her smile before she found herself in the corridor, being hurried along by a firm hand on her elbow.
"Obi-Wan," she said, breathlessly, not really knowing where to start. "Where have you been? What are these security issues?"
Obi-Wan slowed to a stop, and glancing up, Chloe fought a sudden urge to push him against the wall and kiss him senseless. "I – It's good to see you again," she said, cursing the wobble in her voice, confused by his silence. Doubting everything, all over again.
He still said nothing, just chuckled and activated a door pad behind her, putting a hand on her waist and guiding her backwards into a dark room. The air smelled of dust and leather, and it occurred to Chloe that the door was probably a side entrance into the oldest part of the archives, an area usually closed outside normal office hours. Her back hit something hard. Bookshelves. Obi-Wan's hands cupped her cheeks, his eyes, glinting in the half light, meeting hers.
"Hello," he said, and kissed her.
Chloe melted into him. His lips were gentle against hers at first, but there was an undercurrent of urgency in the way he touched her, of something restrained but needy. His hand moved down her neck, over her shoulder, along and round the silky bodice of her dress, fingertips tracing the edge of the gown and then moving to caress the bare skin of her back. And somewhere deep inside her subconscious, Chloe wondered if this was really happening.
Not a dream. Please don't let it be another cursed dream…
Gently, but insistently, she pulled back. Obi-Wan looked down at her, one hand moving to rest at her hip, the other sliding into the hair at the nape of her neck. Chloe studied his face, taking in his features with eyes now accustomed to the low light. She smiled. "Real. Definitely real."
He nodded, ran a finger along her cheek, and moved to kiss her again.
She pressed a hand to his chest. "But what about the security issues… do we have time for this…?"
His lips rested against her cheek. "I'm afraid they are not quite as urgent as I may have implied."
She pushed him back a little. "Really?"
He smiled, albeit hesitantly. "After spending fifteen days on a wild Bantha chase around half the galaxy in the name of diplomacy I think I'm owed one evening off." He stroked a finger and thumb along a lock of her hair. "Especially when there are such tempting alternatives to massaging the egos of politicians."
"And there was I thinking you Jedi were the pinnacles of decency and truth."
He dipped his head and brushed his mouth against hers, the tip of his tongue sliding over her lower lip. "I assure you I can be utterly indecent, if necessary."
"Mmm... but the reception – I was practically forced to attend. And you…"
He kissed her cheek, then her temple. "Are you actually telling me you want to go back?"
"No… of course not."
"Then I suggest we retire to my quarters to work on those security issues. In fact, it's not a suggestion, it's an order." He pulled back a little to study her face. "That is, unless you've changed your mind."
"No, I… did you see my message?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "The day you sent it. Just before we jumped to hyperspace."
She raised her hand to his cheek. "I missed you. It seemed like forever."
He placed his hand over hers, the intensity of his expression showing for just a second that he reciprocated the feeling, even if something - his Jedi restraint, she reasoned, stopped him from expressing it.
Gods, is this what it's like for him? Not even being able to say 'I missed you?' Is this what it will be like... for us?
Obi-Wan evaporated her thoughts by kissing her again. His fingers drifted across her hip and she moaned into his mouth, finally surrendering to the flood of arousal, sliding her hand into his hair, releasing the stress accumulated in all those days of longing for him, of worrying about him.
He pulled back, trailing his lips along her neck. "So, let's go. Make up for lost time."
"No… too far… don't want to wait… not any longer…"
She heard his chuckle, and a moment later he slipped the thin strap of her dress from her shoulder, trailing his lips against the bare flesh there and then circling his thumb around her nipple through the thin layer of slackened satin. He placed a series of slow kisses up her neck and earlobe as his hand continued its tortuous motion.
"Do you have any idea," he whispered, by her ear, "What you do to me?"
"Mmmngh…" is all Chloe could manage in response, her head lolling back against the shelves.
"Of how much restraint it took that night to leave you?" he continued, his other hand skimming her thigh. "How every day since I've thought of you? Of what I want to do to you?" His fingers found the split in her skirt and slid down the back of her leg to hook her knee.
Chloe instinctively wrapped her leg around him, trying to pull him closer but he resisted, tugging down the top of her dress and cupping her bare breast before lowering his head to suck softly. She ran her fingers through his hair and let her eyes drift closed, focusing on the sensation of his wet mouth on her sensitive skin. He teased her hardened nipple with his tongue as his other hand left the back of her knee, sliding up her thigh until it met the lace of her underwear. Chloe drew in a sharp breath, and he paused for a moment before brushing his thumb over the thin material, grazing the point that made her shudder with exquisite, almost painful pleasure.
Perhaps sensing the precarious state of her arousal, Obi-Wan quickly moved his hand away, caressing the softness of her inner thigh in long strokes. His mouth left her breast and he moved to kiss her neck again. His whole body was pressed firmly against hers and she could feel his heat and hardness through the rough material of his clothes. Chloe found herself suddenly desperate to touch him and she wriggled a hand between their bodies, moving over the bulge at his groin.
Obi-Wan quickly grabbed her wrist, pinning it high above her head, holding her other arm still with an invisible force and then moving his mouth to her ear again."No. Not yet. Please, just let me touch you…"
Both hands restrained, Chloe stopped his words with a sensuous kiss and in response his hand slid up her thigh again, his fingers slipping between her legs and tracing the damp material of her underwear. Chloe whimpered, unable to stand the torture of his delicate touch.
"Please Obi-Wan," she whispered against his mouth, her breath ragged. Her voice turned into a groan as he kissed her deeply, simultaneously ripping the flimsy lace and slipping a finger inside her, sliding a thumb over her clit, bringing her right to the brink of orgasm with only a few, steady movements.
"Wait, I want…" but Chloe forgot what she wanted, as he loosened his grip on her wrist, letting her hand fall to his shoulder. She knew only the sensations he was building in her, the release that was so long overdue, and, as his thumb circled gently, a second finger joining the first, was now so very, very close…
"Look at me," she heard him say, somewhere in the distance. "Open your eyes, Chloe."
His movements slowed and she forced her eyes open, to see his face; his smile, his lips dipping towards her, kissing her softly as his fingers thrust once, then twice, taking her over the edge, into the sweet, sweet pleasure of oblivion.
He released her, to drift slowly back to reality, her smile buried in the crook of his neck, salty skin against her lips. His arms cradled her gently. Breathless, she slumped against him as the pleasure ebbed away to a gentle tingle.
Eventually, she lifted her head she looked up at him and he smiled, running a finger over her flushed cheek. He leant closer and pressed his mouth softly to her forehead, then each cheek, the tip of her nose and finally her lips.
Breathless, contented, but at the same time just slightly frustrated, she wondered why, then recalled that he had barely let her touch him, and she was just trying to find the words to protest the imbalance of the situation, when his expression suddenly became serious. He stepped away, turning his head to the door.
"What's the matter?"
Obi-Wan frowned. "Somebody's coming."