Ye olde shuttle parking [early afternoon]

[sith_happened]

After hours of sweaty work, Anakin had finally gotten the hyperdrive working again.

He's slept through most of Sunday--he'd needed the rest--and was looking almost like himself again.

Except for the nervous twitch he was developing as the time Rory normally showed up got closer.

Blurry - Puddle of Mudd

Comments

[sith_happened]

"They can't have been that important," Anakin decided. "We should be there soon. I'll go get caf. Just pull the ship out of hyperspace when it pings."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "Yay, caf," she said. "Hey, do you ever put stuff in caf like we do in coffee?"

[sith_happened]

"I don't, but others do. Sugar, milks, creams, honey...I didn't like honey at all." Anakin gave her a shy smile. "I'll be right back."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Ew, honey," Rory muttered to herself, and pulled out of hyperdrive as soon as the annoying noise she hated sounded.

The sight (http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap031022.html) that met them made her audibly gasp. "....Anakin. Anakin, look."

[sith_happened]

Anakin, even though he knew generally what to expect, had bolted from the galley with two cups of caf in his hand. "Do we need weapons?" he said, skidding back into the cockpit.

Some instincts die hard.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"What? No. That. Look," Rory said impatiently, pointing as though he might have missed the nebulae.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's expression softened as he handed her the mug. "You like it?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"It's beautiful," she breathed, taking the mug.

[sith_happened]

"The name kind of jumped out at me," he said as he stared out the window, sipping from his mug.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I don't know this one," Rory admitted. "What's it called?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin's cheeks flushed red. "They're the Heart and Soul Nebulae," he murmured, not making eye contact.

Subtle like a Skywalker.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"...oh."

Rory bit her lip. "That's a nice name."

She didn't know what else to say without getting her hopes up again.

[sith_happened]

Anakin took a step closer, brushing his hand against her shoulder as he leaned against the back of her seat. "I thought so when I saw it a few weeks ago," he said, careful to keep his tone casual.

And totally losing at casual.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"It makes me think about...stuff," she said shyly.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's hand stopped moving, but his heart started beating faster. "What kind of stuff?" he asked.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory looked up at him. "Us stuff."

[sith_happened]

Anakin didn't look away. "Past or present?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory swallowed. She didn't know present was really an option to him.

"What do you think?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin looked into her eyes, a little desperate to see some glimmer that she'd figured out what he was trying to tell her.

He couldn't find it, and his heart cracked just a little more.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "Our lives have become an asteroid field I can't find a way to plot a course through."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"We're a little complicated," she agreed with a tiny, tiny smile.

[sith_happened]

He reached out to play with a strand of her hair. You know. As friends do.

"And the sun's a little warm."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory bit her lip. "It's just...you and I? We're...it's big."

[sith_happened]

"And complicated," Anakin said, because repetition was good when you were trying to convince yourself to believe something you didn't want to.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"And a lot," she said softly.

[sith_happened]

And I don't want to scare you, he whispered in her mind, sounding more uncertain than he ever would aloud.