snippet because i’m procrastinating housecleaning.  not in chronological order because pfffft writing in chronological order how about no
Praven stops in front of an apartment door, entering a security code.  The door slides open, closing behind him and Shae.   He’s halfway across the main living space when he realizes she’s still standing in the entryway, bag in hand.  “What is it?”
“I really don’t want to be a bother, Rutsair.  We passed a lot of hotels on the way here. I can just stay there.”  She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, looking around the apartment.  It’s cozier than she expected, decorated with comfortable-looking furniture and shades of blue, gray, and cream, a multitude of holos on the walls.  “I’m sure you have a lot of things to catch up on, get done.  I don’t need to be monopolizing your time.  Your family will want to hear from you, you were gone for nearly two years.”
He drops his bag at the end of the couch and crosses back over to Shae, taking her bag out of her hands and dropping it next to the door.  “You’re not a bother.  But I think you know that.  What’s this about?”  He gives her a serious look.  “If you’re not comfortable staying here -”
“No, that’s not it.”  And it isn’t.  The problem is that despite the time they spent together on the way here, letting go of three decades of Jedi teachings is harder than she’s anticipated, and she’s realizing that maybe she’s a little more free than she knows how to handle.
While she isn’t willing to toss aside everything she learned - not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as Master Din was fond of saying - she’s spent the trip to Dromund Kaas coming to terms with the fact that she likely won’t be returning to the Order … not that they’d want her back after a mission of cultural exploration to Dromund Kaas, anyway.  Too many people already assumed she was just biding her time, and she doesn’t know if she can stomach another twenty years of trying to convince people she’s not out to ruin the Republic.
But she doesn’t want to think about all of this now.
Right now he’s standing close enough that she could take a step forward and kiss him, and she ignores the little voice yelling about the danger of attachments and does, her mouth finding his with surprising ease.  She catches his lower lip between her teeth, pleased when he shifts one hand to the small of her back.
“You’re avoiding my question,” he murmurs against her mouth.  It’s a very pleasant sort of avoidance and not one that he necessarily feels like stopping, but if they need to clear the air about something it’s better to do it while they’re both still focused on the conversation instead of other things.
Well, mostly focused on the conversation.
She hums something that could be either agreement or disagreement, skimming her nails along his back.  “Ask me again.”
“Stay with me, Shae.”  A tug on the ribbon wrapped around her hair sends black waves cascading over her shoulders, and it’s a simple thing to leave languid, lingering kisses from the corner of her mouth to her ear, feeling her melt against him as he does.  “Please.”
