Aeris could feel that Jek felt as uncertain as she did. It wasn’t that she was scared, that she didn’t want to be with him, or anything like that, it was just different than any situation she had been in before, so she had no frame of reference for what to do next, nor did she know exactly what she wanted to do next. Perhaps she was just thinking too much. Not every problem could be solved by the mind.<br/><br/>Jek took her head in his, offering a smile as he did. He seemed calmer now, although the nervousness had not entirely dissipated. He took her hand to lead her and she followed without hesitation, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed. Her eyes peered into his as he gently tucked her hair behind her ear. He explained that he thought that they were uncertain because they were used to the Force guiding their decisions but, in this moment, it could not. She thought that he was probably right. She was trying to rely on the Force, as well as her mind, when neither could give her the answer this time. Perhaps this time she would have to rely on her heart.<br/><br/>She took a slow, unsteady breath as she made the decision to stop thinking and to let her heart guide her, feeling his hand on her knee. He cupped her cheek and leaned in, kissing her once more, and she closed her eyes, returning the kiss as one of her hands found his cheek and the other rested on his chest. This time, unlike before, she had no real reason to rein in her feelings, so she didn’t. She kissed him deeply, with all the love, longing, desire, and every other emotion she’d felt for him all this time.<br/><br/>She let her heart guide her, content to go wherever it took her. She didn’t want to force anything. Whatever happened, she wanted it to be natural and easy—as easy as such things could be, anyways. Like him, she would be happy if this was as far as it went, although, if it felt right, she was content to go wherever he took her. For now, she was content to be here with him, to savor the feeling of his lips on hers.<br/><br/>She did feel the need to be closer to him, though, to be in his arms, and the way they were now, both of those would be difficult. She didn’t hide these feelings from him as she reluctantly pulled away from him, kicking off her boots before scooting back further onto the bed, where she waited for him to join her, if he chose. As she watched him only somewhat patiently, her heartbeat quickened in anticipation, longing to again feel his lips on hers and his arms around her.<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Jax could feel her doubt as he spoke, he could feel her desire to run, and her desire to make him feel better. She was as complicated as ever, but he didn’t dislike that about her. She was about to say something when there was a knock at the door. He couldn’t help the disappointment he felt, but he turned around, watching the soldiers scurry around after she barked orders at them. Once they had hurried out of the room and she was checking the boxes, he smirked just a little, voicing what he had thought earlier, “It suits you, you know,” he said vaguely, referring to her ability to be more open, and to boss people around without them talking back.<br/><br/>She turned back to him, seeming uncertain once again, trying to calm herself as she walked towards him. Whatever calm she might have found went out the window the moment she started talking, laying into him with a flurry of emotions. “Is that really what you think of me?” he asked, sounding more hurt than he’d meant to, referring to her claim that he had just accepted it and forgot. “You really think so low of me that you think I didn’t care? That a few words from<span style="font-style: italic">anyone</span>would be enough to make me forget about all of that suffering and pain?” he asked, raising his voice when he’d not meant to before biting back the emotions and trying to push them down.<br/><br/>He managed to calm himself, to avoid asking what her excuse was now. It wasn’t fair and he knew it. Hurting her wouldn’t make him hurt any less. He let out a long, uneven breath to calm himself as she came toe-to-toe with him and he watched the anger fade into sadness. He looked down at her, at the hand on his chest and then into her eyes as she spoke again, softly this time. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” he told her, his words were blunt but his voice was soft. “I don’t know if I was meant to be a Jedi or not… But I do know that you deserved my loyalty, more than they did!” his voice rose a little again as he felt anger towards her for talking down to herself like that.<br/><br/>“Why can’t you see what I do?” he asked, feeling frustrated, “How do I make you see?” He didn’t have any more words to offer her, so instead he took her chin gently in his hand and kissed her again, wrapping his other arm around her waist and lifting her up as he had before, the hand on her chin moving to gently cradle the back of her head. He put everything he had into that kiss, which started out as a hard, almost rough kiss filled with his frustration at her that mellowed out somewhat to a softer kiss filled with love and loyalty.<br/><br/>Soon, however, his kisses were passionate, filled with longing and desire and so many things he couldn’t say as he moved to press her against the wall of the quarters, giving her no escape this time, as he had not intention of stopping until she understood just how precious she was to him. The Jedi part of him told him that it was wrong, that he couldn’t give in to such emotions, but he brushed the voice aside. He didn’t care if it was wrong. If he couldn’t tell her, then he would show her, reservations be damned.