The Senator And The Jedi

Chapter Eight: A Shoulder To Cry On

Ahsoka

Ahsoka sat bolt upright, her breathing hard and fast. Her body was drenched in sweat, and she was quite certain that she had never been so scared in her life.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. She tried to wipe them away, but they were rolling down her cheeks faster than she could get rid of them. As her breathing slowed back to normal, she choked back a sob.

She buried her face in her hands, hoping that the emotional overload she was experiencing would just go away. Her efforts to calm herself down were failing entirely, which humiliated her.

She was a Jedi – she was supposed to be strong, to have her impressive self-control. One of the traits that she had inherited from Anakin was a sense of pride, leading to a deep-set hatred of feeling helpless.

Suddenly, as the tears ran down her cheeks, Ahsoka remembered that Lux was in the room right next to her. He would wake up if she continued carrying on like this, and he needed his strength for tomorrow more than she did.

And so, straightening out her oversized t-shirt – she had stolen it from Anakin nearly a year before and he had never noticed it was missing – she made her way quietly down the hall.

Perhaps some fresh air would help.

Lux

Lux awoke to the sound of someone crying. He immediately sat up, sending a datapad crashing to the floor. He realized that he had fallen asleep at the desk in his room, in the middle of working on last-minute details for the negotiations.

He sat up, running a hand through his hair. He grabbed a short-sleeved shirt with a low collar off the corner of the bed, throwing it on.

He needed to know whom it was crying. Although two of Padme's aides, Dorme and Sabe, as well as a handful of servants, were also in the house, he had a funny feeling that it wasn't one of them.

He followed the sound out onto the terrace. He looked around for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness outside. Then, he found the origin of the sobbing: it was Ahsoka.

She was absolutely distraught – or at least, that was what he assumed the reason was for the fact that she didn't sense him coming. "Ahsoka?" he asked softly. "Ahsoka, are you all right?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, but didn't turn towards him. She was still trying to be strong; he knew that she didn't want to show any weakness. "You should be asleep," she said, deftly avoiding the question.

"Well, so should you," he retorted gently. He wasn't a politician for nothing, after all – legitimate comebacks were nearly second nature for him after all his time spent debating in the Senate.

"Lux, please," she whispered. She sniffled slightly, apparently giving up on trying to hide her tears. "I just want to be alone right now..."

"Come on, talk to me," he coaxed gently, sitting down next to her on the bench. He made sure, however, to keep a respectful distance away. "You can tell me anything. What's bothering you?"

But even from where he was, he couldn't help but notice the gentle curve of her chest under her shirt, and her beautiful long legs... and he pushed the thought away. He might have been a teenage boy, but he had to show some restraint. Ahsoka was a dear friend, not a potential love interest. 

Or so he had tried to convince himself time and time again...

"It's not the Jedi way," she said, bringing him back to the present. She looked out towards the sky over the lake, which was slowly turning pink with the prelude to the sunrise. "I shouldn't have to burden another with my feelings. Jedi are supposed to be able to release them."

"Come on. It sounds like you're reciting something from a textbook." After a moment, when she said nothing, he added, "Well, has it ever occurred to you that telling someone might do just that? Release them, I mean?"

She shook her head no. "I've never thought about it that way, I– I guess."

"Now tell me about your dream."

After a brief burst of control, Ahsoka's tears began falling again. "I– I saw him! The Sith Lord we've been looking for, I– He was killing people: Jedi, younglings, Padawans... And there was nothing I could do but watch the Temple burn from far away, I–"

No longer able to keep from sobbing, she began to cry into the palm of one hand. She pulled her legs to her chest, curling up into a ball.

Lux's heart went out to her. He hated seeing her suffering. He put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently. "Oh, Ahsoka..."

She continued to sob, and he wasn't even sure if she was conscious of the sympathy he was now feeling for her. But then, she did the last thing he would have expected: she threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his shirt.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her deeper into a warm embrace. He rocked her gently back and forth until he began to feel her breathing slow.

He took a moment to let himself to bask in her presence. He allowed himself to be happy that she was in his arms, that she had willingly come to him for comfort. Slowly but surely, the walls of protection that she had built for herself over the course of the war were coming down. She was letting him in.

"I'm your friend, Ahsoka," he whispered. "I'll always be here for you. You'll always have my shoulder to cry on, if you need it." He pulled away slightly, tilting her face – which, despite being tearstained and afraid, was still breathtakingly beautiful – up with one hand so that he could look into her eyes. "I promise you."

Then, before he could think twice, he planted a warm kiss on her forehead. He could have sworn he saw her cheeks colored at the gesture, but she nodded, and snuggled back down into his arms.

For a long time, they stayed like that, holding one another close, until the dawn came.

*I'M STARTING POV SWITCHES BETWEEN LUX AND AHSOKA!!! MWUHAHAHAHA- *hack* *cough*

Wow. Fail. Anyways, hope you all liked the Luxsoka moment(s) in this chapter! 

I actually wrote this fanfic based off of a Luxsoka dream (THANK YOU AGAIN BRAIN FOR SENDING ME SUCH A LOVELY DREAM) I had a while back... I had a core four ideas that I wrote after I had the dream, and the fourth one was based off of that, and this is the first of the group. I'll try to update soon, but UAAT is next on the list... So yeah...

Bye.