DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from Star Wars in any shape or form. I own any OC I can invent, though. I am not making a £ out of this. It is just for shits and giggles.

Hi folks, ere is the second chapter I promised. Unfortunately I haven't got anything ready after this, but I'll do my best in January to work on this fic and get something out.

In this chapter: social justice by the bucketloads, coping with disability, PTSD, awkward flirting and dating, helpful weather and lemon! Happy holidays to you too.

Warnings: PTSD, flashbacks, mentions of background character deaths, xenosexual lemon.

Enjoy

"That could have gone a lot worse." Asajj commented, stretching her arms above her head. They had been sitting in front of a terminal for what felt like a lifetime and though the conference call with Eli, Donnay and Roth had been very productive, she felt like her back was all knotted up.

"I will be happier if we don't have to talk to a lawyer for the next couple of years." Grievous commented, complaining as always. He made to stand, but stopped mid-movement with a concerned expression in his eyes.

"What's up, clanker boy?" Asajj asked.

"I... it's nothing." he replied, but the concern in his eyes had turned into what looked like panic.

"Hey! I can tell there is something wrong. I can't help you, if you don't tell me." she insisted.

"My... my legs have gone idle... - he whispered - I have been sitting still for too long and now... I can't feel them. It's like they weren't there. Which is... true in a way..." he continued, quieter and quieter, lowering his eyes to the ground.

Asajj sighed and rolled her eyes, then unceremoniously sat on his lap, hoping fervently that the oversized chair would hold them both. Grievous stiffened for a second then relaxed with a sigh of relief as sensation flooded back into him.

"Better now?" Asajj asked.

"Better." he admitted quietly.

"Next time tell me that you need a break before you freak out, alright?" she whispered, placing her hands on his shoulders and depositing her words straight into his ear.

"I am not some sort of weakling." he protested, bristling and straightening.

"No, you just function differently from everyone else. - Asajj replied - The sooner you accept it and stop trying to ignore your needs the better for everyone." she added and stood again, walking a few steps towards the window and looking out at the sports field full of people having fun and enjoying the late afternoon sun.

The sound of quiet clanking informed her that he had managed to stand too.

"So what next?" he asked, coming to stand next to her.

"I don't think there is much else we can do this evening. But you could buy me dinner. - Asajj provoked, giving him one of her trademark seductive glances - I mean if you don't object to people eating in front of you..." she backpedaled almost immediately. What an idea she had pulled out, she silently berated herself. You don't invite to dinner a guy who doesn't even have a mouth to eat (or a stomach, for that matter).

"Oh, I am sorry... forget I even asked!" she erupted finally.

"What is the problem, witch? - Grievous challenged - All of a sudden you are ashamed of being seen out and about with me?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and stooping to loom over her.

"Am I too lowly to share a table with you?" he insisted.

"What?! No!" Asajj replied, wrong-footed by his reaction.

"Then what?" he asked, brows furrowed in irritation.

"You can't eat!" she blurted out.

Grievous blinked in confusion, straightening and backing off a bit.

"Well, yes. That's true. And that is a problem because...?" he retorted, suddenly uncertain.

"Because I will be eating and you will have to watch me without being able to share." Asajj replied, crossing her arms defensively. Why did he look like she had said something wildly unusual?

He froze for a moment at her words, then a smile slowly spread on his features.

"Oh dear... it sounds like you're actually worried about me..." he murmured, crowding her again with his body.

"I am not!" Asajj retorted almost automatically, but it was a lie and they both knew it and when the playful light disappeared from his eyes she realised she shouldn't have said that. They had long passed the point of pretending they didn't care for each other at least a bit. Naqdaa had changed things between them, and after the previous night they couldn't even pretend it was a side effect of battle. It was a thing, yet unnamed but real, a partnership at the very least, and as far as she remembered from the time before she was on her own, one was supposed to look out for a partner.

"Maybe I am. - she conceded, almost grimacing from the effort - It must be hard enough to... to be you. I don't want to make it harder." she added, uncrossing her arms and rubbing a hand over her hair in an attempt to look casual.

"You're not. - he replied quietly - It's not a problem, really. I can't feel hungry. The Geonosians who fixed me were thoughtful enough to make sure of it." he said with a shrug, trying to sound as if he didn't care.

Asajj placed a hand over his forearm and looked up at him, wishing she knew a way to tell him... she didn't even knew what, and yet it was burning on the tip of her tongue.

"One less thing to worry about, I suppose." she said at the end as she dropped his hand, frustration making her harsh and abrupt.

"That's one way to put it. - Grievous commented with a bitter little chuckle - Shall we go now?" he asked, gesturing towards the door.

Asajj sighed. She should have handled the conversation differently, somehow, but they both seemed to have an uncanny knack to get trapped in awkward situations and no idea of how to get out of them with good grace.

"Let's." she agreed.

Curious gazes followed them as they walked quietly along the the streets of the base, bathed in the warm apricot light of impending twilight.

Curious, but mostly not hostile or even judgemental, Asajj noticed. People would stop or do a double-take, some would even stiffen up in a salute or raise a fist and yell a slogan. The latter were mostly Hopefuls, excited like the kids they were about the prospect of joining what they saw as a heroic fight, but in truth the whole base was buzzing with enthusiasm and barely contained excitement.

She could feel it throbbing in the Force, like the beat of a distant song, reverberating in her chest. It felt like when she had led the slave uprising against Osika Kiske, the warleader who had her Master killed back on Rattatak, like a wave was rising, and she could ride it to glory if so she wished.

She had never noticed that before. Until Naqdaa she had never had the feeling that there was anything but Dooku's schemes to the CIS, that it was anything but a ploy, but this, this was power far superior to anything that any fallen Jedi or even the Master of the Sith could field, to anything the Dark Side could offer. This was the power of people who believed in their cause, a cause that was not so dissimilar to her own after all, and she knew that she could exploit it, no, better, she could direct it, guide it, bring it to fruition.

She could be a hero. She could be a saviour. She could make sure that what had happened to her Master and her never happened to anyone else ever again, that there were no more Osika Kiskes, or stuck up Jedi who disowned their own for caring enough for a place and its people to live and die for them.

She could make everything better, like she always wanted, like her Master had taught her, until there were no chains left, until true freedom reigned.

"Thinking happy thoughts?" Grievous asked, brushing a taloned finger against her arm to catch her attention.

"I beg your pardon?" she retorted, abruptly jarred from her train of thought.

"You were smiling. Like a katara who has the scent of her prey." he explained quietly.

"I was thinking about this war, about why I am in it. - she replied - I never gave it any thought before. I just went along with what Dooku planned for me, even though I wished that there was more to the Dark Side than constant pain and anger and loneliness."

"And now?" he probed.

"And now I am starting to think that there is more to life than what he wants from me, from either of us. That I can finish what I started back home." she replied.

"And what is that?" Grievous asked.

"Fixing things." she replied as vaguely as she could, suddenly ashamed of her idealism, but all she could read in his body language and in the Force was attention and interest.

"It's a long story. - she warned - maybe it would be better if we talked over dinner." she proposed.

"I agree. - he said - Oh, wait. I know where we are! Do you fancy Mando food?" he asked all of a sudden.

"Yes, but..." she tried to object, but he grabbed her hand in a surprisingly gentle but still unbreakable hold and shot down a side-street, forcing her to run to keep apace.

He took another two or three turns and led them into a small court, mostly occupied by mismatched, mess hall-style tables belonging to a tiny eatery that occupied the front of one of the buildings. The smell of spices and meat wafted all over the court, making Asajj's stomach growl.

"It smells nice. - she commented - How did you even know about this place? It looks pretty well hidden to me." she added.

His eyes had taken a glazy, faraway look, as if he was looking at something far more mesmerising than a back-alley cantina.

"I... I have been here before... - he revealed - Before the war. I had business in Raxulon and my ship was being repaired around here. It used to be a sort of business park back then." he continued, almost mechanically, then blinked slowly and shifted his head as if startled.

"You had another flashback." Asajj said.

"Yes, it seems like I did. - he agreed, rubbing his forehead wearily - My memories from before the crash are a mess. If I try to remember, they stay out of reach, but they flare up every now and again when I least expect them." he explained, all apologetic and ashamed.

"Pick your option between paranoia, panic attacks and amnesia... Isn't PTSD wonderful?" Asajj joked, a bitter undertone sliding in her voice.

"We're still here, aren't we? - Grievous retorted, laying a hand on her shoulder and looking at her with a hint of a smile - We've survived what they threw at us, we got better, and we're going to get back at them. This is all that matters." he declared.

"I hate to admit it, but you're right, clanker boy." Asajj conceded, smiling back at him. Somehow her hand ended up on top of his for a second before they moved apart.

"So, since you're local, so to speak, what do you recommend?" she asked, conveniently changing topic.

"It depends. How spicy do you like your food?" he retorted, and his gaze shone with a challenge she was happy to accept.

They ended up buying take-away and moved back to Grievous' accomodation so that they would be able to keep on talking undisturbed. Asajj didn't mind. The sun was setting behind the lake, and even though a gentle breeze was blowing, it was still warm enough that they could sit outside, on the small terrace two doors down from his rooms.

The other officers left them mostly alone, occasionally showing up for a smoke and a drink, but there was enough space for everybody to enjoy the evening without getting on each other's nerves.

"How's the food?" Grievous asked at some point, after she had been eating silently for a while.

"Just how I like it." Asajj admitted truthfully, heaping a bit more yam-flour on her plate to mop up the sauce from her stew.

"You seem to enjoy spicy food more than most softskins." he commented.

"It's all a matter of habit. - she said - On Rattatak, if the food doesn't make you sweat it's not real food." she added, only partially in jest.

"Is that where you're from? Rattatak?" he asked.

Asajj nodded, her mouth full, then helped herself to some water.

"Not originally, probably. When my Master found me, I was a slave. - she replied - The Force only knows where I had been taken from. But I can pass as Rattataki, as long as I shave." she added with a shrug.

"A slave?!" Grievous exclaimed, his eyes going wide and concerned.

Asajj nodded again. "Yes, I mean, I was well-kept, probably because my owner wanted to use me as a bed-warmer when I grew up, but I was a slave nonetheless. With collar and all."

"Did he... harm you?" he asked, and he seemed deeply, genuinely pained at the idea.

"He was killed in a raid when I was six or seven, and thankfully he was not such a pervert." she replied. She didn't quite know why she was revealing so much of herself to him. Maybe after sharing minds everything seemed less compromising, she pondered, and at any rate she was quite enjoying the fact that he seemed completely shocked by her narrative.

"And then?" Grievous ask.

"And then Master Ky found me and showed me the true meaning of freedom." Asajj replied and even though her heart twinged a little, she managed to mantain a pleasant, indifferent façade, or at least so she thought.

"A Jedi?!" he questioned.

"A renegade one. - she corrected - He crashed on Rattatak during a botched mission, and by the time he had managed to contact the Order for pickup, he had taken the cause of the slaves of Rattatak to heart, and didn't want to go back." she narrated. Her stew was cooling in her plate but suddenly she didn't feel that hungry anymore.

"He asked them to send over a task force to overthrow the slaver lords of Rattatak and restore freedom on the planet and they told him it was not the Order's business what happened outside the Republic." she continued. Her hands clenched into fists on the table, but her voice didn't waver.

"So it was just me and him, and at the end it was just me..." she concluded in a whisper, eyes stinging, voice catching.

She wouldn't cry, she wasn't crying, she told herself, it was all in the past and she had avenged Master Ky a thousand times over. She had exterminated the Weequay raiders who had dealt him the killing blows, she had led the rebellion that had toppled the slaver lords one by one, and at the end she had ripped the still-beating heart out of Osika Kiske's chest.

She had done what she had to, she thought, and then suddenly memories not her own slipped into her mind: images of burning buildings, gutted by explosions, of piles of chitinous carapaces erected as warning that there would be no quarter or mercy, of chains broken and freedom gained, of dignity restored and loss avenged... but not enough, never quite enough. No matter how much enemy blood was shed, that scar would never heal, the pain would never leave... they had taken too much from him and now his grief would last for as long as he lived.

Metal claws screeched against the table, drawing furrows in the hardwood surface and jarring them both back into the present.

Grievous' brows were furrowed under his mask, his pupils reduced to the thinnest black slit, his ears flat against his skull. He was panting for breath as if he'd just run a klik and she wasn't faring much better. Her chest was tight with the weight of her pain and his. Their connection had returned in full force, without any of them actively seeking it. This worried her a bit but the thought of disconnecting didn't even enter her mind. She didn't want to be left alone with those thoughts, and it wouldn't be fair to leave him like that either. Her memories had pulled him into that state.

"Who... who were they?" she asked quietly. She didn't want to cause him even more pain, but she needed to know.

"The Huk. - Grievous replied, and his voice sounded even raspier and rougher than usual with anger - They oppressed and enslaved my people. They killed my parents and my sisters, then my father, and then... her." he said, lowering his head and Asajj knew that he meant the warrior woman from the beach, the one he couldn't save.

"It's not your fault." she offered, placing a hand over his.

"It has never made it less painful. - he replied, shaking his head - Some days it felt like grief was all that I had." he confessed in a strained whisper.

"Is that how you got your name?" Asajj blurted out, trying to defuse the situation with some bad humour.

"Yes, it is. - he replied instead - I wanted my enemies to know that I would cause them the same grief I carried inside me. How did you know?" he explained, raising his gaze back towards her.

"Uh... honestly I didn't. I had always thought it was a silly Darksider codename Dooku had given you. - Asajj admitted feeling slightly ashamed of her words and thoughts - But I like the truth much better. It takes a special kind of person to pull through so much and keep on fighting. And you certainly live up to your name." she said. Both her hands wrapped around his, squeezing gently. There were so many things she wanted to say and to ask, but she didn't know how. She had never talked like this with anyone after Master Ky's death and her tongue and ideas twisted and tangled uselessly, unaccustomed to gentleness and companionship.

"I try my hardest.- he replied, forcing a smile - I want to fix things, just like you do, and may the gods have mercy on anyone who stands in the way, because I won't." he declared.

"Me neither. No peace without justice." Asajj added with a smile of her own.

"And only victory will truly break our chains." he continued, taking the lead from her and it felt so right...

Something switched inside Asajj, a strange feeling lanced through her veins, almost like pain, and the next thing she knew, she was out of her chair and on his lap, locked in a ferocious kiss with him. The chair, already strained by the cyborg's not unconsiderable weight, gave up on them, depositing them on the floor with a crash and a clang.

Grievous ended up beneath her, looking altogether too delighted about it, and she lost no time in straddling his waist and grinding herself on him. She wanted him so badly that she couldn't think straight, and the needy noises he was making didn't help. In some distant recess of their minds they knew that they were in public and that some other officer could walk in on them at any moment, but somehow all thoughts of discretion and decency seemed extremely unimportant compared to the possibility of finally quenching their need after such a long wait... long days and long nights, alone but not, the other a constant, welcome presence at the back their minds...

They were saved by the comms, at the end. Messages pinged on both their accounts, startling them with their high-pitched beeps.

"Who the hell is it at this time of the night?!" Grievous growled under his breath.

"Force help me, if it's Dooku, this is the time I'm finally going to tell him to sit on a stake." Asajj added, reaching for her handset with the Force and then tapping angrily on the email icon to open it. A wave of dread passed through her for a moment. If it was actually Dooku that would probably mean an emergency summons, and she couldn't stand the thought of actually having to delay their activities again.

"It's Selina from Comms. - she announced instead, with audible relief - She says the ad has already reached a million views on Shadowfeed, and that they are planning to upload another one, if we approve it." she explained.

"Let's have a look, then." Grievous sighed.

She turned the screen of her handset so that they could both see it at once and tapped on the file.

The video itself was really short. The frame was occupied almost completely by Hopefuls, with the 15th Unclaimed in the front row, as usual, their faces bright with excitement.

"Come on, folks, this one is for the Pubs! What do we say?" Selina's voice yelled from outside the frame.

"NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE!" the Hopefuls yelled back, raising their fists in the air.

"WHAT DO WE SAY?!" Selina asked again.

"NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE!" they roared.

"Wow... That caught faster than a house on fire..." Asajj whispered, setting her comm aside.

"Your comms people are really on roll, aren't they?" Grievous commented, looking and sounding slightly shocked.

"A million views... - Asajj repeated, shaking her head - Can you believe it?" she asked, looking at him with a slightly wild air.

Grievous erupted in a brief bout of laughter. "All of this seems like a dream to me." he replied, gesturing to the two of them on the floor, and the food on the table and the last light of the sun and the people out there who were making that wild idea real with them.

"But it's a good dream, and I want to believe it." he added with a small, almost timid smile.

"I want it too. - Asajj confessed quietly - I want it all."

"Then we'll take it. We'll make things right." he promised.

Some reflex ingrained through long years of hardship and pain and loneliness triggered in her mind and for a moment angry, destructive thoughts flashed in her head.

"There is no us. I do not need you and I won't let you use me." these words burned on her tongue and she wanted to say them, she wanted to hurt him before he hurt her, because beautiful things never lasted and men pretended that they cared to take advantage, and it had happened before, and she couldn't go through it again, and it was all happening too fast, but she couldn't stay away from the lure of having something to call home, of belonging again...

... and he was scared too, so scared, because he could barely accept himself, and he couldn't understand how someone else could, but he needed her, he needed all of it, the sarcasm, the rivalry, the teasing, everything, because she made him feel alive, like he had never thought he would feel again...

... and they were both several different kinds of broken and messed up, all at once, but they had each other and the thing they had started, almost by accident, and they could grow it, they had done it before, each of them separately, but if they joined their efforts, they knew they could make a real difference, they could really make things right once and for all...

"Together?" Asajj dared to ask. A strange feeling was churning in her heart, making it feel too big and bulky to fit in her chest.

"Together." he confirmed with a solemn nod. He cupped her cheek with one of his large, cool hands and sat up straighter, looking at her with gleaming golden eyes. She looked back and leaned in just a fraction, rubbing her other cheek against his mask in what translated into a gentle kiss.

It was an unusual way of ratifying an alliance deal, but they were unusual people and life had short-changed them enough times that they felt entitled to making their own rules.

"General..." she saluted with a half-bow that would have looked formal if she hadn't been straddling him like that.

"My Lady... - he reciprocated with a fond smile - Is that the right title?" he asked.

"I think I like Commander better. Now, where were we...?" she whispered, pressing herself close to him.

"We were doing our best to get caught red-handed by my neighbours, I believe." he replied in the same tone.

His hands slid under her skirt, upwards to her backside, encouraging her to press herself even closer against him.

"They would probably run away screaming and need mental bleach after that... - she chuckled - But as entertaining as it would be, I'd rather it didn't happen all the same. And not because I am ashamed of you." she hastened to add.

"Being a woman in this army is already hard enough if you don't get caught screwing the living daylights of your favourite colleague in a public space." she explained, a hint of weariness seeping in her voice.

"Let's go inside, then. There is a nice couch that is waiting to be inaugurated." he proposed.

"Or a bed." she retorted.

"Or a bed." he confirmed.

"What are we waiting for, then?" she murmured .

They managed to keep appearances up along the corridor, but as soon as the door to his rooms closed behind them, all pretences dropped, and her clothes followed, until she stood in the middle of the living room, naked as the day she was born.

He looked at her with longing and awe for long moments, silent and still as a statue, then let himself fall to his knees before her.

"You are so beautiful..." he whispered, looking up at her. His eyes were shining with more than just reflected moonlight and there was a slight tremor to his voice, an edge of too-much and not-enough all at once.

"I wish I could kiss you everywhere..." he added wistfully, tracing the length of her calf with the tips of his talons. Asajj's heart did a little happy flip at the idea.

"But you can. - she blurted out - I mean, if you want. Why not?" she added, hoping she didn't sound desperate. His subtle caresses were not helping, in that sense.

"It's not going to be the same." he objected, but thankfully kept on touching her. She felt like she was going to explode if he stopped.

"No, it's going to be different. It's going to be our way." she insisted.

"But it cannot possibly..." he started, but she was not going to have any of it. She placed a hand at the back of his head and pushed him gently but firmly, until his mask was pressed against her lower abdomen.

"Let me judge that, for starters." she objected, widening her stance a bit to provoke him, but at the same time letting her barriers down as far as they would go, so he would know how much she wanted it.

He made a low, whiny noise and his hands rose to grab her hips.

"Are you sure?" he asked, even though she knew he wanted that as much as she did. There could be no lies or subterfuges between them when they were like that.

"Of course I am sure! Less talking, more kissing, now. Come on, clanker boy..." she teased.

He was still for a moment, incredibly still, then rose, no, surged, and Asajj found herself on her back on the floor, and he was above her and his hands seemed to be everywhere at once and they were both burning again, like the first time. True to his word, he was rubbing his mask all over her, sniffing her carefully, as if he was savouring it and wanted to make it last, and he was purring as he did it, a deep rumbling sound that reverberated through his chest and vibrated against her skin as his vocabulator amplified it.

Later she was sure she would find an occasion to tease him at least a bit about it, but now all she could think of were pleasant possibilities... Very pleasant possibilities...

Linked as they were, he seemed to catch her thoughts and hastened his slow descent down her body and then he lifted her legs over his shoulders and held her hips in his huge, cool hands and bent his head between her legs, rubbing, purring pressing against her flushed, drenched folds, and she was tossing and twisting in his grip, moaning shamelessly for him, but shame had no place between them, there was only shared pleasure and joy and maddening amounts of trust and...

"Oh... I'm..." she managed to say and he growled something that sounded like a curse and suddenly she was overcome by pleasure so intense that her vision whited out and her breath caught in her throat and all she could do was whimper and hold on to him for dear life as he relentlessly kriffed her through climax after climax.

"You pulled back..." Asajj chided breathlessly, once she finally regained her ability to string coherent sentences together.

"I wanted to watch you come..." Grievous confessed quietly. He was still kneeling on the floor next to her and the light of the moon made his eyes shine like molten gold and his armour like silver. They had not made him to be beautiful, but he was.

"It's hard to do that if all you can see are flashes of light or the inside of your eyelids, isn't it?" she teased, but he didn't seem to catch it.

"You looked so beautiful like that... so radiant. - he continued leaning forward to touch her face with gentle fingers - I could hardly believe that I was doing that to you, that I was really making you come for me..."

"So you had to do it a few times more just to make sure, didn't you?" she retorted, trying to sound playful. Her fingers traced the lines of the dark durasteel frame of his forearm, making his breath hitch.

"I could not get enough of you. I didn't think you would object." he replied breathily.

"I most certainly do not." Asajj retorted, a puff of laughter escaping her lips at the thought. "But you certainly set the bar quite high for the next round." she added, rising on an elbow to keep on teasing him, her fingers tracing ever higher up his inner arm and then onwards along the metal beams that replaced his clavicles.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want." he said, even though his eyes were fluttering close and he was starting to shiver in pleasure.

"But you haven't..." she objected.

"I don't have to. - he cut her off -

I'm not the type of man that thinks he is entitled to... things because of a takeaway dinner and a bit of grinding. I don't want you to feel obliged to retribute." he declared belligerently, and she could tell he was sincere, even though he wanted it so badly that his desire was almost like a physical thing trapped inside him and he had no way of releasing it by himself.

"He still worries that he is too broken and disgusting for me to really want him..." she realised immediately, and the idea made an irrational surge of anger trickle through her veins, not towards him, but towards fate in general, for being such a bastard.

"I appreciate the sentiment, clanker boy, but there is a problem, you see?" she said, sitting up and pushing him backwards with her hands splayed on his chest and a good helping of the Force. He didn't put up even a token resistance and let her press him to the floor.

"I really, really want to screw you until you beg, and I've wanted it for days." she continued, crawling up his body until her face was level with his.

She undid the knot on his sash and pushed it aside, splaying her hands on his chest and smoothing them up and down over it. Contrary to other parts of him, it was almost warm from the heat radiating from his organics, a bit like his mask. It was another thing only she knew about him, like the way his eyes went dark and wide when she touched him, his slitted pupils growing rounder as they dilated, or the sounds he made in the throes of pleasure. He was hers and she wanted to touch and know all of him.

"Do you have anything to object?" she asked finally.

"Can we move to the couch? - he replied - I can't breathe very well in this position..." he added, all apologetic.

"You what?!" Asajj exclaimed, leaning back so he could sit up.

"Things in here don't work very well if I'm flat on my back. - he explained, tapping a finger on his chest - I guess the Geonosians never imagined I would be in a situation like this..." he added, trying to make a joke of the problem.

"Why didn't you tell me immediately?!" Asajj complained, slapping a hand on his chest.

"It doesn't immediately bother me, and I was... distracted. - he retorted with a shrug - But I have the impression that you want to take your time, am I right?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows.

"Which part of the sentence "you'll be begging me to let you come" is obscure to you?" she asked, in turns exasperated by his attitude and relieved that she hadn't hurt him. She didn't mind beating him up on the training grounds, but she didn't like the idea of hurting him by mistake or negligence like that.

She slipped her hand in the gap in his armour and brushed her fingers against the warm synthskin inside and his quippy comeback turned into a low groan of pleasure.

"Ngh... I am not going to last very long if you do this..." he managed to say.

"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side..." she joked, withdrawing her hand and standing up.

"Couch, now." she instructed, pointing with her finger.

"Aye aye, madam." he joked, but obeyed promptly, sitting down with his legs spread and an expectant, excited look in his eyes and Asajj lost no time in straddling him, pressing her still-drenched core against his groin and her breasts against his chest.

"Now, where were we?" she asked, slipping her hand back in, and he was too busy with moaning to reply, which was fair enough for her.

She liked to banter with him, but occasionally she preferred him when he couldn't string together complete sentences.

"Yes, that's more like it..." she whispered.

She ground her hips against his and touched him and kissed him, and then when he was close to the edge she would pull back, keeping him maddeningly close but still preventing him from tipping over.

Their connection, opened wide on both sides, allowed her to play the game with more precision and effectiveness than ever, but meant also that she would be feeling whatever he was feeling, that she would be burning as much as he was, and of course Grievous had realised that and was trying to resist, and to stall for time, in the hope that she would capitulate first.

Good luck with that, she thought, but by the time that stubborn, over-proud, over-competitive son of a gun finally begged for release, she was not far behind in desperation, aching and almost sobbing, and yes, when she finally let him he screamed for her, but she screamed too, calling out his name as she held on to him with a death grip, trying to ride out their mind-blowingly intense joint climax.

"Did you really have to do that?" Asajj panted a while later.

"Couldn't... I couldn't give you a too-easy win, could I?" he rasped. His voice sounded even messier than usual, but judging from the half-lidded, fucked-out look on his face, he didn't seem worried at all.

"Not everything is about winning, do you know?" she retorted, but her words lacked bite. She had liked the challenge and its results; she was just complaining in principle.

"I know. But I also know you don't do boring. I pay attention." he retorted and Asajj couldn't help but laugh.

"You will never be boring, clanker boy. - she said, giving him a quick peck on a cheek - Do you mind if I stay a little longer? My legs are quite sore." she proposed.

"Do you want to..." he started, gesturing towards his lap, but even though he trailed off in clear embarrassment, she understood that he wanted her to curl on his lap, like back at the juice factory. Maybe she ought to tease him for being cuddly and slightly kittenish, she thought, but then again, she wanted that too.

"I do." she said and shifted her position so that she was sitting across his legs, with her head pillowed against his shoulder. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but at the same time it was exactly what she needed. She could hear his heart beat steady and regular and he was still purring slightly under his breath, and it sounded supremely soothing.

When her eyes started to close of their own accord, she didn't try to fight it. A quick nap wouldn't really hurt, she thought. Just a few minutes, to rest her legs and then she would be on her way home, she told herself.

When they woke up, startled by the rumble of thunder, it was two in the morning, and it was pouring down like the heavens had broken open.

"This is a hell of a summer storm..." Grievous commented, padding toward the big window.

"Damn! - Asajj cursed under her breath - Well, it looks like I'm staying the night." she commented, trying to sound chipper. She didn't really know how to feel about it.

She didn't want everyone in the Army to know about her arrangement with Grievous and walking the walk of shame the following morning surely wouldn't help, but at the same time she liked the idea. She had felt good both times they slept together, she had felt cherished and safe and peaceful. Like she actually belonged somewhere.

"You're welcome to half of the bed. I can't promise it's going to be comfortable, though. I have never slept in it." Grievous proposed, and he too was trying to dissimulate and pretend it didn't really matter, but she could tell he was tense and nervous, wary of rejection.

Thunder cracked again, louder and closer than before. The rain was like a solid sheet that would soak her as soon as she set foot outside and she was sleepy and still kind of sore from her wounds and their activities and maybe it was because of the endorphines still racing through her veins, but she really, really wanted to curl up somewhere warm and relax and just be normal for a while, a normal woman with the guy she liked.

"Alright. - she said - Lead the way."

The bed looked huge, but Grievous occupied most of the space, even more so because they piled up pillows and blankets behind his back to allow him to lie down without problems. Asajj didn't feel like complaining, though. She curled up alongside him and let her head rest on his chest, a leg thrown over his, and with the remaining blankets it felt cosy and warm and good... she could get used to something like that.

Maybe she even wanted to.