Last time: Sasha, Viran, Op, and Kait went on a double date.

Now: The couples have a sweet conversation.

Chapter 28- Having You in My Life

The doors to the lift opened, later into the evening, near around midnight when the four of them finally returned to the suite. RV was standing in the living area, powered down for the night. Lana was nowhere in sight which meant she was likely asleep in the room she shared with her parents. Sasha placed her fingers to her lips to quiet them down as they entered.

Oppie nodded to her, also surmising that Kyr and Cien were also asleep at this point. "That was a lot of fun, have a good night guys." He said to Sasha and Viran as they worked their way to the bedrooms.

"Indeed, that was fun," Viran agreed in a quiet voice. "Good night you two."

"Night," Sasha said as Viran guided her towards their room.

"Nighty night." Kait said as she and Oppie stepped into their room, closing the door quietly behind them.

Quietly moving down the hall, they entered into their room and closed the door shut behind them. The entry light into the room was on, but the rest of the room was set on the dimmest setting. Sasha flicked on the light and walked over to the slight adjacent door that was on the wall near the dresser. Their room was connected to a smaller room that was meant for children to stay in. The smaller room could also be accessed from the hall, but since this bedroom was the only one that was directly connected to it Cien had given it to Sasha and Viran so they could easily check on Lana. Pulling open the door quietly, Sasha stepped into the dimly lit room where Lana was sound asleep in the corner in her portable crib. Sasha quietly slipped her heels off and left them by the door. Viran did the same with his boots. Sasha then slipped over to the crib to check on Lana followed closely by Viran.

"Looks like RV was successful in getting her to sleep," Viran whispered.

"Yeah, I was worried that she might be fussy like she is when the others have babysat for her," Sasha whispered in agreement.

"Seems like that is not the case," Viran chuckled.

Sasha smiled at him. She leaned over and placed a kiss on Lana's cheek.

"Good night Lani," She whispered.

"Good night kiddo," Viran whispered too.

She then headed back to their room and then went over and sunk down onto the bed with an inaudible sigh.

"Tonight was a lot of fun," Sasha said as she laid back on the bed.

"It really was. And I am happy to see Oppie and Kait doing well," Viran said as he followed her in, closing the door between the two rooms quietly shut.

"Yeah same, though it seems like she is worried about him," Sasha said as she sat up on the bed.

"Op is worried too, but I gave him some advice and I think it helped," he said as he leaned against the dresser.

"Well that's good," Sasha said with a smile.

"I wonder how Cien and Kyr's date went," Viran said after a moment. He then made his way over to the bed.

"I don't know," Sasha said. "I'm guessing well, but we will find out in the morning."

"I guess so yeah," Viran said as he sat next to her. "By the way, it seems like you and Cien are doing better. I noticed you guys seemed back to normal. Have you noticed that presence still?"

Sasha didn't answer at first as she laid back and stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah, it was fun today going shopping and getting ready together, but I still haven't talked to her since you and I talked. And it's still there, but it's been oddly quiet since we got here. I thought it best to ignore it and enjoy the quiet."

"I guess that's good to hear, but you haven't talked to her?" Viran asked, concerned.

"No, I haven't," Sasha said, looking at him. "Time just went by so quickly and I haven't found the right chance to talk to her. I'm thinking of bringing it up after this trip. But I haven't forgotten."

"Okay, as long as you talk to her soon," Viran said, nodding. Not wishing to press the matter more at the moment.

"I will," Sasha promised as she looked at him.

Viran laid down onto the bed next to Sasha. "So now what? I'm still buzzing from the night. I kind of don't want it to end yet."

"Yeah, same," Sasha said, turning to lie on her side and face him. She propped her head up with her hand. "I have an idea."

"Oh?" Viran asked with a raised brow. He tried to keep a sly smile from coming to his face. "And what are you thinking of, Mrs. Zeb?"

"Well…" Sasha climbed out of the bed and started to walk in the direction of the bathroom. "You'll just have to follow me to find out," she said with a mischievous smile.

Viran sat up and watched her disappear into their bathroom. He snorted quietly as he watched her go.

"Vir, are you coming?' Sasha asked as she poked her head back out into the room.

"Definitely," Viran said as he hopped off the bed. Quietly, he moved across the room, doing a quick check to make sure the door to Lana's room was fully closed. It was thankfully. He then turned to Sasha. "So where were we?" Viran asked, smiling at his wife. He pulled her in for a passionate kiss that they held for a moment.

"Follow me," Sasha said as she pulled away. She then took his hand, leading him towards the bathroom.

Kait woke up, it was the dead of night even though the city outside the insulated windows didn't know it. She was still a little groggy from the alcohol she'd had earlier, and it took her a few moments to realize what had woken her up. Op wasn't in bed. After the minor victory last night of them at least sharing the bed, but no other activities other than sleeping, they'd actually fallen asleep in each other's arms, Op hugging her pretty tightly which she was pleasantly surprised by. As they fell asleep tonight they had done the same, but now he was gone.

She blearily looked around and saw the curtain that they had drawn over the door to the balcony off their room was parted slightly. Somewhat out of worry, and partly out of curiosity, she got up. She grabbed her robe from the bathroom to wear over the tank top and light shorts she was wearing for pajamas and looked through the window. Op was leaning on the railing looking out over the city, and she watched him for a few moments. She realized after a moment that he was looking out between a couple of tall spires at the Jedi temple in the distance that towered over the city, a dark shadow since there were no lights over the great edifice. Where they were going for their tour tomorrow, or later today depending on how you looked at it. After another moment, trying to decide if she should go out and check on him, she slid the door open and stepped outside.

He turned to face her. "I didn't mean to wake you." Oppie said, worried.

"You didn't." She said, resting her arms across the balcony next to him. "Everything okay?" She asked, looking out across the cityscape to the dark pyramid of the temple in the distance.

"Yeah." He said. "Sorry, this place brings back a lot of memories." He said, swallowing. He saw where she was looking at the temple along with him. "I used to stand on a balcony just like this right over there. I could probably see this place but never really thought of it." He said quietly, and she glanced up at him as he opened up to her. "I'd look out at this ocean of people busy living their lives, wondering what a life outside the temple would be like." He admitted. "I wondered about my family every now and then. Who they were, where I came from. And now I'm here with my family, about to revisit the temple."

"And me?" She asked, remembering what he and Sasha had said about attachments.

He looked down at her. "Yeah." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I didn't have anyone except my master and a few friends. Now I have you, along with everyone else."

"Is that okay?" She asked quietly. "I know you weren't supposed to have something like… someone like me." She said quietly.

"Of course it's okay." He said with a confused tone as he hugged her tighter. "Having you in my life is one of the best things that has happened to me. If not the best." He said quietly.

"Okay." She said, his arm still around her.

Oppie frowned. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" She asked, glancing up at him.

He was quiet for a moment, "I'm sorry that you had to even ask if that was okay." He said quietly. "The idea of this still feels so new to me, and I feel like I keep messing up, and not letting you know how much you mean to me… ni'cyare." He said quietly, his arm still around her but looking down at the cityscape below them.

She glanced up when he used Mando'a, and she had to think for a few seconds to remember what it meant based on what little Cien had taught her, and she blushed a little. "I just meant as far as taking your girlfriend to the temple. I know it was against their teachings." She said quietly. "I also know every step is new to you. Honestly at this point it is new to me as well. And whatever you think you're messing up, I don't see it."

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "I'm glad. But for all the gestures I don't make because I don't think of them soon enough, or all the things I don't say because they don't come to mind until it's too late, I just want you to know you mean everything to me." He said hugging her a little tighter as they looked out at the temple.

"I know, Op." She assured him warmly, "and you mean everything to me as well. I'm glad we're going to the temple tomorrow." She continued, "it will be nice to see where you grew up. Meeting your family has been great, but they weren't with you then."

"Yeah." He said, uneasily. "I... don't know what to expect from it. I just keep remembering the news broadcasts after Order 66 and seeing the smoke from the temple." He swallowed, thinking of the friends, what few he had, that he had lost that day during that attack.

"Are you okay going back?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said. "I think so." He continued. "I don't know." He finished quietly.

"I'll be there for you." She said. "And if you want to do something else tomorrow instead I'll be happy to go do something else too." She suggested.

"I think I need to go." He said after a moment. "Maybe Master Redika might be there and chat with me." He observed with a slightly wry smile.

Kait looked up at him, in the past she might have just thought he was joking, but she knew better now. "Is that a thing?" She asked, knowing that Redika had passed away.

"Is what a thing?" He asked, looking down at her.

"Being able to talk to people who have… you know." She said.

Oppie furrowed his brow for a second in confusion. "Oh… uh…" He swallowed. "Yes, actually."

"What?" Kait asked, startled. "You can talk to dead people?" She said before she realized what came out of her mouth.

"Uhh.. yeah, if they want to. During my Knight test Master Redika appeared to me as a spirit." He said a little uncomfortably.

Kait stared at him for a second. "Is that what you meant when you said Cien and Sasha spoke with your mom and sister last year?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah." Oppie said, swallowing, he'd forgotten he had mentioned anything about that.

She stared at him for a second. "Well what did they say?" She asked.

Oppie cleared his throat. "Master Redika told me I had passed my trials, and helped me figure out how to defeat Dracul. What my mother and Anna said, they mainly just reminded them that they were always up there watching."

Kait stared at him for a moment before returning to look at the city. Suddenly Op's tentativeness in accepting her invitations made a lot more sense. "At some point I think we need to sit down and talk about everything you can do so I can understand your powers more." She said distractedly.

"It's a very rare thing." Oppie added. "I only saw Master Redika inside a temple, and Cien and Sasha only saw them when Kyr was… close to passing himself, and he apparently acted as a bridge since they had gone there to be with him. Or had always been there, but were there more directly to help him." Oppie clarified, very fuzzy on the details himself.

"And…" Kait started. "Going to another temple, the temple, something like that could happen again?" She asked, remembering the stories of how many Jedi had fallen that day. How many spirits there must be there, since they apparently did exist.

Oppie was quiet for a moment as he unthinkingly looked back up at the temple. "I… hadn't even considered that." He said.

"Oh." Kait said. They stood in silence for a few minutes. "Well if any of them get judgey about you bringing your girlfriend to the temple, tell them to take it up with me."

Oppie laughed, at first with a small chuckle then building to a full outburst of laughter. "I will." He said after a moment, "thank you ni'cyare." He said still with a smile.

"You're welcome Op." There was a gust of chill night air that swept past them that made her shiver. "Should we go back to bed?" She suggested

"Yeah." Oppie replied.

"So." Kait started as they stepped through the door. "Are they always watching, or do they give you… like… privacy?" She asked. "When you need it?" She added.

"Who?" Oppie asked.

"Your mom and sister." She clarified, suddenly not feeling like their room was so private.

"Ummm…" Oppie started. "I… presume so."

Kait turned and glanced at him with a genuine sense of unease at the thought. But she saw the glint of humor in his eye. "Are you just messing with me?" She asked with a narrowed gaze.

"No." He said. "All of that was true."

"Well." She said after a moment, "just draw the curtains extra tight, then." She said as she moved to get back under the warm covers.

He smirked but did as she asked, making doubly sure the curtains were closed. He went back to the bed and hesitated for just a moment, before slipping under the covers next to her. He tensed ever so slightly as she wrapped an arm across him, and he relaxed as he wrapped his own around her.

"G'night." She said as she settled in.

"Goodnight ni'cyare." He said, hugging her a little closer.

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