Torn Apart

Lame

They reached the gates for the gardens in no time. Lux kept a lookout while Ben worked on picking the lock. "Would you hurry, Solo? I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

He turned to look at her, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. "It didn't take much convincing so quit complaining."

He had a point there, Lux thought but instead of admitting it, she stuck out her tongue at him and a deep laugh resonated from his chest.

After a few seconds, he beamed smugly as the metal gate opened. Bowing slightly, gesturing to Lux, "Ladies first."

She shoved him lightly on the shoulder, making her way past the thick set of flowering bushes planted in the gardens that were created for Senator Padme Naberrie. Millions of colorful blooms...so many that they took Lux's breath away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ben's voice said as he stepped in behind and locked the gate again before catching up.

Lux shook her head. "Nothing. It's dark."

"I know my way around," he said as he took her hand.

The pools edge was almost flush with the tiled floor and the water shone with a bright, shimmering, pale blue light as if lit from within, shedding a silvery glow on the trees and bushes that surrounded it. Lux had seen it before but it never seemed as beautiful as it was in front of her then.

Ben was already working at removing his clothes. Lux tried not to watch but when he removed his last white linen shirt, she couldn't help but take in each developed muscle of his stomach. After kicking off his boots and pulling his pants off, standing in front of her in his boxers, he looked at her curiously. "What are you waiting for?"

"I was waiting for you to catch up. I don't have as much to take off as you," Lux said as she kicked off her shoes and pulled off her night dress to expose her spandex bra and matching underwear. She rolled up her dress and threw the wad at Ben before taking running jump straight into the water, sending up sprays of water high into the air as she shrieked with laughter.

With his hair now damp from a face full of water, Ben jumped in after her.

Lux sputtered as the wave he caused hit her right in the face and laughed as she tried to remove the hair sticking across it. Ben surfaced with his head tilted back, hair slicked back against his head, looking darker than ever.

"Very graceful Ben. I can see why Luke would think you'd make a great Jedi."

"Says the girl, who did the exact same thing and screamed while doing it," he replied leaning his head back into the water again, closing his eyes at the simple joy of feeling cool.

Lux floated nearby, watching him and smiling at the bliss written all over his face."So if you're going to train with Luke, when do you think you'll leave?"

He sighed, keeping his eyes closed, "I'm not sure. I know my dad is going to take some convincing."

"I'm sure your mother is all over that," she said "Princess Leia always gets what she wants."

"Only because my father lets her," he said moving in arms in the water.

"They are hands down my favorite couple ever," Lux replied as she propelled herself through the water to the opposite side of the pool.

"That's only because you don't live with them."

"Ahh how hard can it be really?" she asked

"Harder than you think," he said in a firm voice and she was afraid to continue.

"When does Daen leave?" she asked steering the subject in a different direction.

"Next week, I think. Hopefully...that would give me some time to plan a going away outing. You'll come right?" he asked.