That night she slipped off the couch and onto the plush rug beneath her as she heard his footsteps walk down the hallway. Half cursing to herself and half crying she kicked the coffee table in front of her. In a chain reaction the plate of Almond Chewies flew across the room and hit the entertainment center. She sobbed as she looked down at her left hand and the ring he had given her on the balcony in Theed. She took the ring off her finger and went up to her room, tip toeing over the broken pieces of porcelain on the ground.

In her room she looked at her gurrcat sitting defensively on the ground after hearing all the noise below. She gave her a reassuring pet on the head and made her way to the safe. She opened the small datapad found in the safe and recorded a note to go along with the ring.

"Date...19th of October. I broke off my engagement with Korvin Pascal. Put engagement ring into safe."

She looked at the ring then put it inside a beautiful velvet pouch and into the safe.

____________________________________________________________________________________
Six months later....


After a long beautiful day on Kasshykk she still sat in bed with the sheets strewn along her shape her mind racing. Looking to her left she watches him sleep. His strong chest rising and falling peacefully. This time he hadn't come home with the nightmares. SHe didn't know why but she was hoping it was because this time he was asked to serve the cause he saw less of the ugliness most of the galaxy hadn't. Kissing his chest softly she slipped out of bed, the moonlight wrapping around her form like a piece of sheer cloth, she went to his side of the bed and rifled through his pants.

She knew it would be there. Since the day she gave it back to him, she knew he'd keep it on him not wanting to miss an oppportunity to put it back on her hand. She found the box in the left deep pocket of his cargo pants, carefully she slid it out and opened it in her hands. She sat there cross legged looking up at him then back down to the box. Carefully she took it out of the box and looked at the ring. It was breathtaking. A stone that shone like no star in the galaxy, he had scowered all over to find it the first time then had it engraved "You defined love for me" on the inside.

Her quiet breath rattled in her chest as she held back tears. She wanted this, she always knew it. She loved him, his son, his family. They were a part of her she never had growing up. It filled a piece of her soul nothing ever would. She realized even if her own son Cyrus was going to grow up without her that Nathan...a son who never knew his mother would always see her as that woman. She slipped it on her left hand and looked at it. Perfectly fit. Custom made for her. Just like he was. She put the box back into his pants and slipped back into bed waiting for him to wake so he could see it on her hand again.

It was not the light of day streaming into the room, but her fingers that woke him up. The absent minded driving of them, albeit soft, still enough to wake him. His eyes still closed he greedily stole the moment of the touch, the smile on his face betraying his level of awareness. "You're awake," she whispered a playful tone in her voice as the fingers on his chest was replaced by a gently palm.

His eyes opened slowly to see her watching him, her mouth in a halfcocked smile as if she was hiding something from him. "What is it?" he whispered, the back of his fingers finding the soft features as he was blessed with a view that only a lover could only capture of his loved one. She smiled and shook her head, he continued to feel her skin, the light reflecting off of her. It was these moments that he lived for, he took a deep breath hoping to the Gods he could slow time. A smile of absolute content across his lips as he continued to investigate her mystery, his hand sliding down the hers, rubbing over it.

It's funny what the brain registers and can process before a person even knows it. He paused the movement of his hand as he felt over the familar ring. The touch of his fingers knew what it was, before his eyes could move from her bare skin to her eyes, searching for an affirmation from her. "It's time," she whispered.

The feeling was like electricity shooting through his body, his heart accelerated to the point that he thought it would push from his chest. All effects of a long nights sleep gone, his grin, turning into a smile that eventually would sore a face not used to smiling so long and hard. "It's time," he repeated nodding as his thumb continued to trace the ring he had given to her so long ago. His other hand reached to her, pulling him to her and pushing her to him as their lips met in a timeless kiss that translated what each had meant to one another.

"It's about damn time..."