RPlog:A Night Out On Coruscant

Brandis was returned to the main medical wing of the hospital, not for further treatment of the stump, for stump it was, and there was no salvaging the missing hand biologically at this point. Rather the intentions of the medical personnel were to prepare it for grafting with cybernetics, so that he might have complete function in his left arm, whatever had been done to him. He's exhausted, and glad that he's not going to require further amputation to fix the damage, for which he can thank his own knowledge of medicine in treating the severed wrist. He's not expecting any visitors during this part of the process, so he's dozing in the medical bay, while the surgical theater is prepared. He's made one request, and it is that he remain awake while the procedure is performed, so that he might learn from it.

"Is this /really/ neccessary?" The voice of a woman can be heard from the next "room" over. Actually, room was too descriptive a term. The medical bay was rather standard as things of that nature go, several exam beds, divided off by curtains creating alcoves that served for either triage or pre-op proceduers. There were of course personal rooms on another level, but those were usually reserved for sentients recovering from surgery or serous illness.

The attending doctor's reply comes somewhat vapidly as though having to answer the same question at least a dozen times over in a day. "It's standard procedure, Colonel. You should know that by now. Anytime military personnel are transferred to another assignment a thorough physical is required."

The woman doesn't find the answer suitable apparently because she counters with a few choice words of her own. "And since when are military personnel ordered to report to civillian hospitals. I only came because it was a specified order. Look I can go to Calamari and get this done on the Cruader..." The words are cut off as the doctor apparently gives the woman no more room to argue and leaves the curtained alcove, but not before adding. "I'm sorry Colonel, the military facility is overbooked. A 2-1B should be in shortly." Once the doctor is gone, an exhasperated sigh can be heard and then silence again.

Something about the cadence and rhythm of the voice on the other side of the partition draws Brandis from fitful sleep, and blue eyes crack open shifting toward the curtain, as though willing it to move all by itself. Well, it waves gently in a non-existent breeze, so that's something, right. He releases an explosive sigh, rather gusty in the quiet of the medical bay. Droids are not as chatty as human personnel, so there's really nothing to filter out individual protestations. Someone all the way at the other end of the bay whimpers infrequently, but enough to be annoying, at least to the exhausted Jedi in training. Finally, memory clicks into place, and he realizes where he's heard that voice before. One he thought he might never hear again. "S...Sabrina?"

Sitting on the med-table Sabrina had little choice but to stay and follow through with the check up. She was under orders after all. Raking her fingers back through obsidian hair she fights the urge to pull at it in some proverbial semblance of retalliation. Just then a flicker of movement catches her eye and she shifts her gaze to the curtain moving ever so slightly then to the opposite one which hadn't moved at all. Odd. Then the voice. In two moves she's off the bed and reaching for the curtain, pulling it aside despite placards posted to "respect other sentient's privacy." If her time in the rebellion had taught her anything it was to act first when your gut tells you it's the right thing to do, sort it out later. This perhaps wasn't neccessarily along the lines of what that had initially intended to mean, but it was no less important to her. Swiftly her gaze falls to Brandis and she stands there, hand gripping at the fabric of the curtain which still sways from the speed at which it was pulled aside. It is before she registers his actual apperance that she feels a twinge of guilt at having moved so swiftly. What if he had been treating a patient? But it was the changed elements in his voice that had intially driven her to this action, suggesting that perhaps he was the patient not the doctor in this case.

Brandis's own instincts are dulled from his 'stay' on Selene, and the wearying journey home after release; which is why his reaction is slowed when the curtain is yanked open. Levering himself up onto his side, so that his back is to her, his face blanches of color as he tries to hide the one thing that she might find fault with, using his body as a shield. "Don't." his voice is but an imitation of it's former robust nature, and there's a pinched look to his eyes. It's so pointless, that he works to lower himself back into a more comfortable position, but it's hard to do with just the right hand. He has come to appreciate over the interim just how much he really used that hand and how much having it removed, above and beyond the initial agony of the mutilation, has injured his sense of self. "You're the last person I expected to see here." he remarks, changing the subject to something lighter, far less incriminating. He doesn't want to end up answering questions about how he arrived in this state and her opinion matters...matters to him more than he could have thought possible.

"Don't what?" Sabrina responds in a half annoyed tone. She never did like being told what to do, or at the very least not without an explanation. It takes her a half second to register his state and forgetting her own reasons for being in the medical bay she steps into his alcove with every intent to get to the bottom of whatever circumstance had brougt him here. "Brandis, what happened?" That he was uncomfortable with her here suddenly was something that did not go unnoticed, but she couldn't have stopped herself from pressing further if she had tried. This man who disappeared into the crowd so many weeks before had never quite disappeared from her thoughts much as she might try to deny that if asked directly. Despite his effort to hide it, her gaze falls upon the injured limb and her heart catches in her throat, unable to speak for a moment.

Brandis is silent for long moments, struggling with myriad ways to explain what happened, but he discards them all. The wit has left him for sarcastic rejoinders, for flip little retorts, and all he has left is his weariness. "I went to try and rescue a friend, and got another friend killed...oh, and lost a hand in the process," the whisper is dry, but his voice is not, no...he's choking on the welling up of tears, because at this moment, he can't imagine himself any more vulnerable, and yet, he's embarrassed at his weakness. You're supposed to be strong in front of the woman you most hope to impress, but the tears fall anyway, and he looks away from her, lost for a moment in what to do or say, struggling fiercely with his inner demons.

Stirred from her catatonic episode, Sabrina shakes her head, moving to his bedside with a determined glint. "No, no, no. Don't do this to yourself. You'll twist yourself into utter uslessness, Brandis and you're a much better man than that, much as I would wager you might deny it." She seats herself on the very edge of the bed, facing him at an off angle. A hand lances out to his face, though it's a slow deliberate motion, fingers gentle and light as they wipe at the tears which have inevitably escaped down the injured doctor's cheeks. Her voice is not chiding but gentle, a soothing praticed tone that might lead one to suspect that it's not the first but rather one of many instances in which she's had to donn the role of supporter. There was however, an unmistakeable sincerity in her tone. "You'll get past this, you'll be stronger for it...it's not a loss unless you make it one." It was strange how easily she fell right into this with someone who by all rights was still a perfect stranger to her.

Brandis has been forged in a great many fires, of late, and what happened on Selene is merely the last in a long string of events. How many times must he gather the scraps of himself up and remake them into something that will be less likely to break, before he is no longer tested harshly? A great many more, he fears, but what choice does he have, having set his feet upon the path that Aurejin laid before him, with terms that could not be negotiated, and since he's begun, they're terms that he wouldn't think of rejecting, now. He reaches for that calm, that peace that being a Jedi can give one, and finds it in the Force. It's the only thing that pulls him back from the edge of weeping hysteria, in front of Sabrina. "I'm going to be okay," he assures simply, his voice leveling out. "Besides...I've heard a few arguments that cybernetic hands are all the rage these days."

The jest sets Sabrina back at ease in some small part at least, it meant that he truly was on the way to recovery. Why that relieved her so, wasn't completely clear in her mind, but she was just happy to see that he was able to draw what inner strength he could, reach out to the Force to find that peace to surpass this moment of weakness. Not that she saw him as "weak" for his loss of grasp on his emotions. Quite the contrary. To her, the weak were the ones that never dealt with their inner demons, and rather ran from them. With the moment passed she finds herself still, sitting on the edge of the exam bed with her hand against the side of Brandis's face. "Hmm, yes and no doubt you'll attempt to use that bit of chic prosthetics as a means to try and impress women." Her hand falls away to rest against an empty edge of the bed, supporting her arm. "Or something along those lines."

Brandis's mood lightens considerably, and it's not something that can be seen, so much as felt. She understands him in so many ways that he doesn't dare voice a name to, that it's almost frightening, all by itself. So he makes a bargain with himself, as he tilts his face into her hand a little more, just enjoying the contact as much as he can, before she pulls away. He makes a bargain that if she doesn't draw away in the moment of intimacy, that he's going to ask her to go to dinner with him again. Maybe this time she'll say yes.

"So is that where you disappeared to?" Sabrina asks, not really certain of where exactly "that" related to, but it seemed logical to her that this high priced rescue attempt was the reason she was unable to find even a trace of him here on Coruscant. Nevermind that the planet's population numbered well into the billions and trying to find a single sentient without knowing which part of the planet they lived on if they even lived here was a horrendously tedious and improbable task. It suddenly strikes her that she was more than willing to take her chances in tracking him down and it was the irony of fate that they should be accomodated side by side within the medical bay, albeit for quite differing reasons. Still, had he been here one day later she would have been well on her way to Calamari without any chance of ever seeing much less speaking to him again.

Brandis nods his head, "Yeah, I went to Selene, but it didn't turn out very well." his mouth turns down for a moment, since she hasn't moved her hand yet, he presses his luck, and his suit. "So...would you go to dinner with me, tonight? Please? I could use a hand with the door." his eyes dance with poorly repressed humor, as he waits for the groan on her part. His pun was really bad, after all, and worthy of the worst possible reaction.

If it was a reaction he was waiting for he would certainly receive one. That horrendous little gem of a joke earns him a narrowed glare but combined with the slight upcurl of her lips, it's evident that Sabrina didn't completely find his odd humor as unbearable. "Sorry." Her one word response, letting a silent moment hang in the air before she continues "I don't open doors, but I'm sure we could find an establishment with auto-sensor doorways."

It is now that the Two-One-B finally makes it's way to what was supposed to be Sabrina's closed alcove only to find that the patient is not at the location she was supposed to be. "Colonel Rheatis?" The metalic voice chimes from the droids voicebox as it finally spots her across in the adjoining alcove. Reminded now of the reason for her visit to the medical facility, Sabrina groans. She'd hated this part of things. Time wasted only to get a report stating she was in good health. She could tell them that herself but it didn't matter to the powers that be. They needed it in writing and not from her. Exhaling she stands from the bed and nods to the droid "Alright, I'll be right there." Her voice only slightly clipped. While the procedure for grafting prostetics was a tedious one, it usually was done within a reasonable amount of time. Much of the technology and medical practices used these days assured a successful surgery with tremedous results. So in essence, once having finished with her own appointments for the day, Sabrina sees fit to sit and wait for word on Brandis's recovery. Despite needing to report to a military transport in the morning, she had the rest of the day to herself. If truth be told she probably wouldn't be able to focus much on anything else including her packing if she didn't leave the medical facility with assurances that everything had turned out fine.

So she sits just outside the main medical theater, a single figure amidst rows of empty seats, interrupted only every so often by a passing nurse or medical droid. She'd worn her lower lip raw almost to the point of bleeding, a nervous habit of chewing the tender flesh when nervous, that she'd not as yet been quite able to rid herself of.

Brandis steps out of the operating theater under his own power, sporting a brand new hand that looks near enough to real to blend in perfectly with the rest of his arm. He keeps flexing the fingers, the faint sound of tiny servos accompanying the motion as he tests the limits of the cybernetic hand. Capable, finally, of expanding his focus from his new body part, he blinks and looks up at Sabrina, a bit surprised that she's still hanging around. "Is everything all right?" he inquires, drawing the wrong conclusion that they found problems in her physical. "You're not ill, are you?" and there's no use in trying to disguise the worry in his voice, at the thought of her sick.

She had been distracted long enough, attention caught by the last two-one-b that had traversed the length of the waiting hall and it's precariously balanced tower of trays with hypos and medicine vials, that she hadn't noticed Brandis's exit. Subsequently she jumps a bit hearing his voice and nearly launches herself out of her chair in an effort to stand. "No no.." Sabrina assures quickly enough, a rather embarrased smile lingering just beyond full revelation. "I just wanted to make sure everything turned out fine with your little operation." She nods now towards the newly appointed hand, noting as well that it practically didn't seem like an imitation of real flesh and blood.

Brandis studies it through half-lidded eyes. "The only difference is that it feels empty of the Force." he says, having made that assessment just now, stretching out with his connection to the living Force. A faint smile sketches across tired features, and he turns pale blue eyes instead to his concerned visitor. "You've been out here for a long time then. Now...about that dinner, what kind of shape is your stomach in? They told me not to eat for twelve hours before the op, so I'm famished."

Should she dare to play coy? A mischeivious glimmer enters her eyes, but she decidedly avoids the smirk that traditionally accompanies that look. "Oh you still think I'm going to dinner with you?" Too late, the smirk plays forth and Sabrina finds herself chuckling. "Alright, though no I don't really have much preference. Just...don't say devaronian. I find their cusine quite unpalatable...actually I think most humans do. Something about ground butterslugs with blood sauce just doesn't seem appetizing." She takes his arm this time, before he has a chance to offer it, a small testament to her life long struggle against formality and ritual.

Brandis finds that he rather likes the fit of her hand tucked into the curve of his elbow, so chooses to say nothing about whether or not he really wanted her hand there in the first place. It's his left arm, and it feels odd to be complete, once more, after spending nearly two weeks bereft of his hand. "Ugh, I'm starving, and that still turns my stomach. Let's.. let's change the subject to something more palatable, hmm? Crab legs with lemon-butter sauce, I think. I know just the place, if you're willing to let me lead, this time." he looks over at her, stealing glances at every opportunity, because this side of her, not so carefree, no...actually concerned for him is one that he hadn't seen before, and it flatters him to realize that she must have been, or she wouldn't still have been waiting for his advent from the medical wing.

"Oh I think I might be able to restrain myself from leading just this once. But I warn you, it's inherantly part of my nature so you'll forgive me if I start pulling you another direction. Just give my arm a tug and I should be fine." She grins a bit, playfully then falls into silent footfalls along side him. Sabrina seems suddenly aware of the glances Brandis is giving her and she fights against the surgence of warmth in her face. She decides then conversation is the best venue for avoiding that and chimes in with a few words to break the silence. "I'm glad everything turned out well. In regards to your surgery that is."

"Yes, so am I," Brandis responds, another grin coming to his face. Things seemed pretty hopeless when he was waiting for the surgery to commence, but now that he's...relatively speaking, whole once more, his positive outlook on life is being restored bit by bit. That she didn't refuse him supper was a plus, in terms of his self-confidence, though she may not realize the positive effect accepting it had on him. "Well, I suppose I should have been gentleman enough to ask if you actually had preference, aside from what you've already pointed out you don't like. Seafood will do, won't it?"

Sabrina gives him a small nod, indicative of her answer "Seafood will do fine." As they approach the more commercial end of things, leaving the medical facilities behind them, it occurs to her that she'd be gone by this time tomorrow and the prospect saddens her. Of all the rotten luck to run into Brandis with so short a time to interact with him. That she found him intriguing was obvious, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to stick around for his release from medical care. What surprised her, however, was exactly how much she was enjoying his company. It was the type of comforting sentiment that she'd not experienced in some time.

Brandis leads her to a hole in the wall, literally, since the entrance to the restaurant he had in mind has been deliberately designed to look as though an explosion has taken out the facade of the building. "Ahh, here it is. Good thing I remembered my way." One thing he does possess is an excellent memory for direction, so that's more of a self-directed jibe, to give the impression that he has faults. In short, he's trying to play down his smarts, because he desperately doesn't want to intimidate Sabrina into disliking him. "I've got my teeth set for crab legs. Do you want a menu to peruse, or will you trust me?" he turns to look at her again, that crooked smile tugging at his mouth, as he waits for her response.

That he was playing down his own "smarts" was a gross disservice to himself and her, and Sabrina could only pick up hints of it. She frowns vaguely, though the action can be covered up easily enough with a quick visual examination of the restaurant he had chosen. "I think I could trust you. Besides if you make a mistake you're a doctor. I think I'm safe enough." She smirks a bit then waits for him to lead the way to a table. She had promised afterall that she would allow him to lead.

Brandis can't help it. Past experience has made it necessary for him to play dumb, because every other female he's ever tried to form a relationship with was intimidated by his intellect. Men are supposed to be dumb brutes, right? Wrong, but it's a hard thing to overcome, and he's not even conscious of doing it any more. "Force, I hope I don't make a mistake." he quips before sliding into a booth that gives them both a nice view of the 'exit'. It doesn't take long for a server to shamble over to their table and inquire after their desires. Brandis ordered a pound of crab legs with lemon-butter sauce, and side of bacon cheese 'chips' for variety.

Sabrina takes a seat next to Brandis at the booth, sitting quietly though she offers the server a small pleasant smile as Brandis names off the items from the menu. Before the server can step away, however she pipes up with a request for a spiced tea. Settling back against the cushioned backrest, she peers across at Brandis with a brow quirked "So what now? I take it you live here on Coruscant. With your hand restored do you have a practice to return to or...what?"

Brandis shakes his head. "I've been doing more research lately than any actual practice, though I attempt to keep ahead of the newest techniques, in the event I should need them." and he doesn't want to go into details about how he lost his last position, as the pediatrician for the Organa-Solo twins, over his first run-in with Darth Malign. "So I don't really have anywhere to call home, as the case may be." He's quiet, thinking about what he might do or say that would interest her. "More often than not, I find myself traveling between here and Tatooine. I run a free clinic for the children there, to make sure they get the health care they need. The planet is really poor, especially since the recent bombardments by the Empire." he's not going to go into details on THAT either, since the reason the fleet was in orbit, originally, was to collect him and the twins, when they arrived. Hair's breadth escapes seem to be his specialty.

"Why here? Why Coruscant then if you have no real reason to keep you bound to this place?" Sabrina inquires, leaning her arms casually along the edge of the table. "If you had a reason to leave would you?" That she wanted to get to know him better was undeniable, at least in her own mind. The problem lie in the short amount of time she had before she'd be marched off across the spacelanes to the sea jewel planet of Calamari, or more specifically, her duty aboard the Crusader. She'd give her right arm, no pun intended, to postpone that just now for at the very least a few days. It was unfair and her expression likely reflects some of that inner dialogue.

Brandis tilts his head, watching her every expression with care and consideration. "Because this is where my Jedi Master is." he says quietly, "And I've shirked my training since I left without warning of any sort...not to you, not to him. Explanations are owed, but I didn't want to face him less than...whole." and there's the crux of it. He has yet to speak to Master Aurejin, even since arriving back on Coruscant. "Once... things have been resolved to his satisfaction, I might choose assignment somewhere else, but that would be at his discretion, and not mine. I was a fool, when I left, thinking that I was ready for whatever might challenge me. I wasn't, and I got a friend killed." he waves a hand, to stave off her explanations that the fault is not entirely his, because he knows it is, within his heart. "I don't want to bear that burden twice, so I prefer to lean on his wisdom, in this instance."

Sabrina gives a modest nod, dropping her arms down from the table so that her hands now rest in her lap. "You're traiing of course." She silently chides herself for overlooking that rather important aspect of Brandis's life. Well to her credit she really didn't know him well enough, but the disappointment was there all the same. "I'm sure that's likely the most responsible course of action I suppose, given the recent circumstance. Wouldn't do to disrespect your Master at all. Your training is important, and I would imagine..Aurejin was it?...would be less than thrilled should you decide to leave Coruscant again without his "blessing" so to speak." She reflects on her own experiences with Jedi masters and becomes all the more withdrawn in a sense. Choosing not to dwell on those thoughts, she pipes up with another question in a different direction. "So you've eaten here before? I would imagine the food was good enough else you wouldn't have suggested we come here."

Brandis laughs and nods. "Yes, I've eaten here before. It was the hole in the wall of the Hole in the Wall that attracted me at first, but the food is pretty good." and yet, he can't quite veer away from that which seems to be occupying both of their minds. Will he follow her to Calamari, if he can? The answer leans toward the positive, for him. He's never been there, it wouldn't be a bad idea to widen his knowledge of the known Galaxy, to better serve it in his capacity as a Jedi. Still, a Jedi is not led by impulse, but by thought and consideration, and above all, balance. Which makes his next action completely unacceptable in certain circles, because he leans across the table, and takes Sabrina's chin gently in between the fingers of his right hand, tilting her head just so, that he might more easily kiss her. The contact is chaste, but does nothing to conceal the passion with which he approaches all life, and exactly how brazen she makes him feel.

To the casual observer the jump from the discussion about the restaurant's food and this outwardly brazen action would simply indicate that the two were on more intimate terms, not that this was merely the second meeting of the two in as many months. But despite the short number of meetings the two have shared, the touch of his fingers on her face seems no less electric. It's a bold move which captures her attention completely, no wayward thoughts skimming through her mind, forcing her to focus on the man sitting in front of her. Would she ask what he was doing? Or simply wait for Brandis to decide what the following course of action would be. That she wasn't pulling away, should be enough indication that the move wasn't unwelcome. She was no less passionate about life. Sabrina couldn't help but be that way, with so much loss and turmoil in her past it was all she could do but embrace life with as much vigor as she could muster. Staring back into his pale blue eyes, she observes with some humor that she could easily get lost in them. Pulling her thoughts together which had been scattered by his touch she smiles faintly. "You just gonna sit there?"

Brandis was lost, just in watching her face, but he blinks, and in that flash of a moment, in the heat of his eyes, he is there in all ways as he leans forward holding his breath in the pause before his lips touch hers, meeting her gaze with his own, blue eyes wide with the excitement that beats like butterfly wings beneath his breast. Everything about her is vibrant, and perhaps her passion is the greater portion of what attracts him so completely to her, moth to the flame. Pressing forward that fraction of space, he opens himself to her, as he opens his mouth to the kiss, as vulnerable in that moment as he'll ever be around her.

Did she expect the kiss? Well in all truth no, but in her response it's rather obvious that she desired it. For whatever time elapses, there's nothing more tangible than the simmering emotion his kiss is stirring, and oh what an emotion it is. Her pulse is racing to the point that she could almost be certain the other patrons of the restaurant could hear it's melodic beat. She had always prided herself in the fact that she could remain coy in emotional situations, even aloof when the need called for it, but the mere fact that this doctor could so upset the balance of her facade in no less than two encounters, made her reel with wonder at what would happen if the two should continue on this path towards a closer involvment. He intrigued her, he attracted her and, well truth be told his kiss was leaving her bereft of any logical thought. To hell with logic. Sabrina leans forward in as much as she can, her own lips parted in response as she just gives in as completely as she is capable of doing at this moment. If he was vulnerable, she was no less so at this point in time.

When Brandis finally pulls away, he's breathless, not merely from the kiss, but from an unbridled, pure laughter. She delights him so much that he can't help but release the ebullience in the best demonstration possible. He twines his fingers in hers, and would be happy to just sit there all night, just watching her, if it weren't for the fact that they bring out the crab legs and dressed up fries, piping hot. "Okay..." he tries speaking, to see if he's still capable. "Have you ever had crab? Because if you haven't, it's quite an experience." He takes one of the cracked legs, and one of the small forks that was brought with it, twisting out a length of crab meat, before dipping it in the butter sauce, and holding it out for her, quite the gallant gentleman. He's teasing her now, having taken into account how much she seems to dislike leaning on propriety.

In the pause it takes for Brandis to free a sliver of meat from the crab leg, Sabrina reaches for her tea, sipping from it and looking calm as ever, while beneath the surface a burble of electric emotion still hums. Violet gaze shifts about the restaurant itself, wondering if she was as outwardly shaking as she could feel herself doing on the inside. He had a dynamic affect on her, that strange near familiar feel of his presence next to her as though he'd always been a part of her life. Steeling herself to speak she manages a light "Yes, once. Too many years ago that I couldn't tell you for certain the exact date."

"I couldn't very well give you the exact date for the last time I had crab," Brandis remarks, amused at the consideration. In keeping with his original tactic, he sorts through thoughts and feelings to come up with a secret that has never been told, or is very little known. "I have no fear of heights, no matter how high I go. However...being closed in terrifies me, and I cannot bear it without flirting with a full-blown panic attack." and so saying, he lets her have the offered tidbit, before attacking the crab leg for his own share. So speaks the young man who is more at home in an enclosed laboratory, than dealing with people in any number. He may have learned to play the crowd, but the social graces still elude him to the fullest. In fact, as delectable as the crab is, he ends up simply sitting there, watching Sabrina eat. He can't think of anything he'd rather do.

"So then you'd be absoutly useless in a snub fighter." Sabrina surmises though mostly in jest. She manages a few bites of the food before noticing that Brandis wasn't joining in. A sculpted brow rises and she sits back with a mild humored look on her face. "So were you really famished or was this intended to be a spectator sport?" She's still far from settled within, her stomach fluttering from his very nearness. She'd felt a pull to him before the kiss and now, after, it was almost near impossible to think straight much less keep up her usual wit. "Here..." she pushes the plate towards him, before picking up a piece and holding it out for him to claim. "Because if you're not going to eat, for one it's a shame this food will be wasted and for another, I do have to leave soon...I have a ton of things to pack still and a very early duty call before I leave for Calamari."

Brandis keeps getting lost in the infinite small nuances that make up the whole of her, and he sighs, reminded that she's leaving, when he's only just found her again. "Right...sorry." he digs in with zest, making short work of his share of the crab legs, and then moves on to the bacon cheese fries. "I... well, I was thinking," he fumbles over what he wants to say, realizing that he's never been so completely tongue-tied around a woman until Sabrina. "Could you... I mean, could I help you pack?" and then he realizes that it could easily be interpreted as a desire to pry into her private life, and that's not his intention at all, so once more a blush rises. "I mean, I don't want you to go." the whisper is dry, and once more he looks everywhere but at her, certain that his stammered offer is going to meet with either outright ridicule, or irritation.

The gesture is both boyishly charming and down right unsettling, so she struggles to find a coherent group of words. "I have to." Sabrina amends sadly, using a napkin to wipe some of the butter from her fingers then discarding it absently onto the table. "I may not have a Jedi Master to answer to but the NR Military is no less forgiving a task master." No she wouldn't ridicul him for the offer to help, nor did she find it irritating in the slightest. If she were honest about it she'd half hoped...no really, completely hoped he'd offer, lest she have to be brazen enough to suggest it herself. She wasn't prepared to let their evening end so early, not when they'd had so little time together to begin with. "Well if you don't mind hefting a few heavy trunks, I think you could probably help me out. But don't think I'm letting you pack my weapons. Nobody touches those." She casts a playful wink towards him.

Brandis is a dichotomy, sometimes he's so self-assured that it's painful to watch his ego take precedence, and yet...here's the little boy that craves acceptance, the lonely side that never did well by himself, but made choices that isolated him from everything he's ever known. He's the doctor that takes care of the kids nobody else cares about on Tatooine, the juggler of fruit, just to make sure that the wee ones get /something/ to eat, when he's around. He smiles, and it's dazzling with relief. "I think I could manage a trunk or two...and you can keep your weapons. I wouldn't know how to use one anyway."

"Then maybe I'll have to teach you how to use one." Sabrina says standing, now that the repast has been fairly much completed. "I said, use not carry..." she amends before putting her hand out in expectation of his. She was trying to play this change in events off lightly, but it still sent the butteflies in her stomach into myraid flutters when she thought about it. Was she really taking him back to her apartments? To pack. She reminded herself. For all her witty banter she was no more sure of herself now than she might have been a decade earlier as a naieve teenager. It occurs to her for a moment that her sudden need to leave, a nervous habit it would seem, was completely selfish and adds "If you're ready to go that is..." She eyes the remains of the meal "Sorry, I just get a bit flighty whenever I change assignments." A lie, but it covered her nervousness well enough. Then she feels a sting of guilt. Hadn't she told him she preferred honesty?

Brandis's expression flickers as he picks up the lie, but only for a moment as he considers many of the reasons why she might choose to dissemble. He's not going to call her on it, not now, because he's a bundle of nerves himself, and just as quick to rise to his feet. Yes, the food was excellent, but he was distracted enough with his contemplation of this complex woman that he barely tasted even a single bite of it. "Let me settle up accounts with the cashier, and we can go." the look he gives her is intense, and more than a little bit of a hint of what he'd like to bequeath as a going away present, but he's too much a gentleman to even broach that particular subject, and spoil the invitation back to her place with selfish desire. "Maybe I'll *let* you teach me how to use one." he shoots back over his shoulder as he moves toward the counter fishing a credit chit out of his pocket as he goes. The space away from her is both painful and yet a relief, because he can't seem to breathe around her.

Sabrina was at a crossroads now, staring down both lanes with as much hesitation as was just for such a situation. She'd been down this particular road before and it had been as much a painful one as a wonderful one with memories she wouldn't trade for the universe. She looks up towards Brandis as he settles the bill for the dinner, completely enraptured in his every move and gesture. "A Jedi..." she whispers to herself. "Go figure." The humor, known only to herself for the moment, seeming to edge more towards irony than mirth. No she'd made her decision and taking one last sip from her tea she moves towards the door to wait for Brandis.

Brandis finishes paying the bill for supper, and moves to return to the table, only to pause in startlement as he realizes the table has been vacated. A shattering look of abandonment crosses his features before reason reapplies itself, and he flicks a glance toward the door. Again, that nearly touchable sense of relief comes from him as he crosses the floor seperating the two of them and gallantly opens the non-existent door out with a wave of one arm. "This way, m'lady." he chides, trying to cover up his temporary discomfiture. "Er, rather...you should likely lead, since I have no idea where your apartment is." and that charming grin finds it's way back home to his face as he watches her, to see what she'll do next.

Sabrina watches the small drama unfold, pursing her lips to hold back a smirk as she can't help but find it somewhat amusing at his mistake to seek her out back at the table. As he approaches however, she casts him a nod, stepping through the door at his galant request. "Well I could let you lead...afterall you've the Force to guide you." She quips, the smile coming easily to her features yet again. In fact she couldn't remember a time in a good long while when she had smiled quite so much. "But its easy enough to find. Just look for the military complex and the officer's barracks...." Taking his arm as she had on their way to the restaurant, she turns them towards a inter-city transport stop. The walk was a long one and it would take them a good days length to reach the complex. Transports were far more convenient.

Brandis chuckles. "Yes, that's true, but there's this whole rule about civilians not being allowed in barracks unaccompanied that sort of makes it difficult for me to get there without you, wouldn't you say?" he does know something of military standards, though he's never served in any branch, under any government. He can't stop watching her, every move, every nuance...and privately he goes over scenario after scenario, about how he could get her reassigned to Coruscant, or at the very last resort, cajole Aurejin into agreeing to send him to Calamari. A Jedi does not feel passion, but Brandis does. How can you be compassionate, if you can't feel at all? His head whirls with conflicting thoughts and feelings, and it shows in his face, though he isn't actively aware of it.

"True, but that's why I said lead the way, not go on without me." Sabrina laughs briefly, a soft melodic sound. She can feel his glances, or at least think she does. In between her own, as they make their way towards the transit station. She could tell he was thinking about something, quite extensively from the expressions shifting across his pleasant features like a slide show of sorts. "Something on your mind?" She chimes in as they reach the station, halting their steps to wait for the next open vehicle.

Brandis shakes his head. "No, not really." he feels justified in lying to her, just this once, but mostly because he's not comfortable talking about it, just yet, since he can't really verbalize what has him so troubled. Besides, that only makes them even, for the fib she told in the restaurant. "So, did you like the Hole in the Wall? I'll have to take you there again when you get back from your assignment on Calamari." ever the optimist, he's decided that she likely won't be there for very long, and that he'll see her again when she returns. He doesn't want to consider the alternative, that once she leaves, he'll never see her again. An open transport pulls up and he waits until she's settled before climbing in after her.

After giving the droid pilot the destination, Sabrina sits back, reflecting on Brandis's question. "I did enjoy it." She comments truthfully. "Though I dare say I'll be a bit sea-food'ed out on Calamari. I expect I'll be there a good while. Division One's commanding officer has gone missing and I'm stepping in to keep things from getting too out of hand. Though I expect high command will want me to stay on with the division permanently." She reflects silently now on the fact that it may be a good while before she has a chance to return to Coruscant. It wouldn't have mattered a few weeks ago, but now, only having found Brandis so suddenly, it seemed unfair to have to up and leave him. The prospect saddened her and without realizing it she's frowning, eyes focused on the floor before her.

"It won't be forever, I'll find a way." Brandis says quietly, breaking the silence. The droid politely turns it's head to look at him, to make sure he wasn't speaking to it before attending to the business of driving a proscribed route to the Marine barracks. "I won't be in training forever, and when I'm not on missions, I could make Calamari my home..." and what the hell is he thinking, making long-term plans that revolve around her? For all he knows, she's beginning to realize what a troublesome mistake she's made, and is trying to think of the gentlest way to let him down.

"What do you mean you'll make Calamari your home?" The words surprised her and she looks up from her melancholy reverie to stare at him with wide curious violet eyes. Her heartbeat seems to be incredibly loud to her, the rapid thrum felt as though it could echo in the confines of the transport. Brandis certainly had a way of turning her thoughts upside down and every which way but straight. Pulling up now to the barracks, she barely even registers it, much less the chime from the droid that they had arrived at their destination.

Brandis squirms inwardly at his dilemma, pinned on the delicate house of cards his dreams have suddenly become constructed of. How did she become so essential, in the course of one afternoon? It was undoubtedly one of the lowest points of his life, so far, in having to replace what was once flesh and bone with something that no longer registers with the Force. "I was thinking that I've never been there, and Coruscant isn't a very good place to study the living Force...with all of the metal and glass closing it in." it sounds lame, even to his own ears. "I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn." and once more he's darting glances everywhere but at her. He doesn't do so well when he's the subject of such intense scrutiny, it makes him feel like one of his own lab specimens, helpless to escape it.

The droid's incessant chiming finally creeps into what was left of Sabrina's logical thought and she nods absently at Brandis adding a quiet "Oh." A grimace creases her expression after turning away from him to exit the taxi and settle the fare with the droid. She was hoping his answer would be different, afterall what would he need to go to Calamari for. There was a certain aspect to his rushed explanation though that led her to believe that it wasn't all there, only partially explained or even completely made up. Thankfully she has enough time in between disembarking from the sky cab and paying the driver that she recovers enough to give Brandis a watery smile before tipping her head towards the towered building which was the officer's barracks. "I'm going to guess you haven't been here before, but it's really not hard to navigate." She explains as she leads them through an elaborately decorated lobby, no less grand than most of the architecture of Coruscant itself. There's several turbo lifts at the far end of the lobby and she directs them to one of them, open and waiting for a new batch of passengers. To the left of the door is a small key pad into which Sabrina easily taps in a sequence of numbers. Effectively, the turbolift begins to rise, speeding them on to the appropriate residence level.

Brandis would do just about anything if it meant he could spend just a little more time with her, so he ignores the moisture in her smile, because he can't bear the thought that he might be responsible for making her cry, and he's just a little puzzled over why she'd be upset in the first place. Some days it doesn't pay to be dense and male. However, he has a promise to keep, and so he accompanies her to her apartment, to help with the packing. There is much to do, and Brandis makes an honest effort to keep the conversation topics light, and for the most part, entertaining, as he regales her with some of his exploits in his time with the circus. It keeps him from delving too deeply into the realm of real feelings, and so he considers himself protected from the danger of losing his heart to her, when he has no idea that he's already lost the will to keep it sacrosanct. It also keeps him from asking for something he has no right to, and that would be the intimacy he craves more than anything. If he errs, and touches her with his left hand, he inevitably pulls back as though he's been scalded, the fact that he can feel anything at all with the artificial hand is frightening, when he thinks of how far technology has gone. In the end, the packing is done, inevitably, and he leaves her at her door with another chaste kiss goodnight.

There was little if anything left to secure for the journey over to Calamari. In the morning, support personnel would come, load the various boxes and luggage to the military troop transport that would ferry Sabrina and a few other personnel to the Fleet HQ in orbit over the ocean world. She had busied herself with the packing, matching Brandis's efforts at a light conversation despite the urge to do otherwise. That she wanted to know about him in far more depth than they had had the opportunity to discuss, there was no doubt and there was still this inner tug that dared her to step beyond the bounds of propriety and seek to touch the passion she knew she had seen in brief instances within his eyes. Standing by the door now, she feigns a smile as he gently kisses her and bids her a good night. Before he can turn and walk away however, her hand darts out almost of it's own volition to restrain his progress. The smile is gone, replaced by a look of perplexity, fine creases along her brow as she stares at her own hand grasping Brandis's arm. "Don't..." She pleads quietly, drawing her gaze up to meet his face. Her entire repetoire of sentiment is perched on her lips, ready to come clean in as many or as few words as her tortured spirit will allow. The impact of how he made her feel and even more so how she in so short a time had come to feel about him was still one she didn't quite have a full grasp on, but this moment it didn't much matter. All she knew was that she couldn't very well just leave for Calamari hoping that by some odd chance of destiny they'd find their way to each other again like they had this day at the hospital. Sabrina knew the pain of waiting and she'd sworn she'd never let herself endure that kind of torture again if she could prevent it. "Don't go." She clarifies, sounding more self assured than she had with the inital plea.

Brandis hears the list of arguments in his head all of the reasons why he shouldn't stay now; the packing is done, the conversation had petered out some time ago, and... still he hesitates, easily capable of going either way. Looking into her eyes is like being drawn into a stellar phenomenon, a gravity well that can't be resisted any more than one could make time reverse itself. His answer is not verbal, there's no reason to affirm with words what his actions speak clearly, as he steps back inside, and closes the door behind him. Taking her into his arms again, pressing the envelope of personal space, he kisses her again, and this time he doesn't hold back.

There's a certain relief that washes over her as her gamble pays off in a welcome turn. Sabrina shuts the voice inside her that's so unhelpfully reminding her that she would be gone on the morrow and chooses instead to keep vigilant of the here and now. She's explicitly responsive to his kiss, open in a way that simple words could not have relayed even if she'd tried to do so had they been forced to part ways. Brandis's touch is incendiary, his hands, his arms, at every point of contact there's a spark that serves to ignite what natural passion burned beneath the surface. It was that new and exciting and at the same time eternally familiar essence of him that threatened to completely overcome her senses and the beauty of it was that she was more than willing to let that happen. With her lips parted against his, she clings to him without restraint, no real discernable space between them now save the layers of fabric. Consciousness comes at an early hour. It was dark still, and a good while yet before sunrise, though the traffic outside was as boisterous now as it would be at the noon hour. While city sounds and lights continued in their daily symphony, behind the drawn shades of Colonel Rheatis's apartment, it was blissful silence. Near the door there were plasteel crates and a couple of bound luggage trunks, packed and ready to be loaded and moved. The rest of the small flat was rather spartan now. A couch, a table and beyond the half open double doors of the bedroom theres a trail of discarded clothing leading to the bed that seems far from organized with a dishevelment of bedsheets tangled between bare limbs and bodies. Sabrina stirs, slow to open her eyes, wishing with silent prayers that the powers that be grant her just a few more moments to enjoy this incomprehensible feeling of completeness that has comforted her for the whole of the evening. The weight of Brandis's arm across her waist as she shifts from her side onto her back, ellicits a smile and she finally opens her eyes completely, turning her head to gauge a better look at the man sleeping next to her. The jeweled gaze drinks in every feature, every line, every nuance of his very presence, etching it away in memory lest she forget. She draws her hand up slowly, brushing fingertips to her lips as she recalls the kiss that had ignited both their passions. A passion that they would find during the course of the evening was not easily satiated, but demanded an all consuming desire that could only be expressed in the intimate language of physical exchange. They had spoken to each other, not with wasted words but with touch, desire, and caress until at last they had silenced that passion and in their exhausted state were content to hold each other as slumber dusted them with dreams. Now more than ever she didn't want to leave, but in a few hours that would be inevitable. Still, Sabrina is careful not to wake him, hoping that this alone will be enough to halt the passage of time and give them that much longer to remain in each others arms.

Time always has a habit of catching up to those who would rather it left them behind, however, and so it is that Brandis stirs, blue eyes opening in hazy contentment as conscious realization of where he is, and with who begins to sink in. Looking up to meet her eyes, a slow smile crawls out and he snuggles into a better position to cuddle her, one leg moving to pin her boldly between his body and the mattress. "I was having this lovely dream." he remarks quietly. "That I spent the night with a beautiful woman in my arms." and the smile widens, inexorable. "But when I opened my eyes, turns out I wasn't dreaming."

"It's a good thing too." Sabrina tests her voice, a soft almost husky sound just above a whisper, as though if she spoke any louder it would shatter their moment together. "That you weren't dreaming. Dreams have a tendency to end just when they're getting interesting. She trails her fingertips lightly along the arm that holds her, from wrist to shoulder and up the course to reset her hand at the side of his face. Smiling almost whimsically there's a contented glimmer in her eyes. Despite their restrained efforts to the contrary the night before while packing her belongings, this bold leap into intimacy hadn't spoiled the possiblity of what might be. A fact which she finds immensely relieving, as even now she stares back into Brandis's depthless blue eyes. "I feel like I should have been here in your arms my whole life."

Brandis doesn't want to be the one to shatter the crystalline possibility of this nebulous time, where they pretend the clock doesn't exist, and that she's going to be able to stay here forever. Last night was...the most pleasant kind of torture, to be so near her, and yet, keeping himself held back, when every touch, no matter how accidental was like a bolt of lightning coursing through him. Here, now, with nothing between them but the sheets, Brandis inwardly agrees with her assessment. Being a transient spirit, he's always scoffed at the ridiculous romanticism involved in believing there is one true soul mate. And while he might not be an immediate adherent, he's aware of the fact that he'd move heaven and earth to be with her. And yet...there is a voice in the back of his mind that argues that Aurejin might not approve. "You'd have to eat sometime," he jests lightly, reaching up a hand to brush a lock of hair from her face.

This was so different a feeling from the man she had loved in the passed. A jedi certainly, but the passion which she had felt for Brandis was all together more vibrant, more compelling in a way that she could not even begin to describe. The jest does not go unappreciated and Sabrina smiles. Inhaling a deep relaxing breath and releasing it she closes her eyes, snuggling up against him as though there were still room between them in some form that needed to be breached. "No, I could just..." she chuckles "Yeah I guess I'd starve." In the end it's neither that finally breaks away the "timless" covering of their intimacy but rather the intruding beep of the alarm clock that all too poignantly reminds her that she's to leave far sooner than she cared to. Reaching her arm out to the bed side table, she attempts to silence the rude device but without pulling herself away from Brandis she simply misses hitting her target by a good few centimeters.

Brandis' eyes to go half-mast as she struggles to silence the alarm clock, and before her fingers ever find the appropriate switch, the thing goes quiet, and a smile of triumph graces his expression. "There, who says training doesn't account for anything?" the petulance is a put on air, and it pleases him to play the injured party. "Have I mentioned how much I hate alarm clocks? One of the benefits of working for the circus was we were always staying up late, and sleeping even later. When I entered the medical academy, alarm clocks were the bane of my existence." He shifts so that his arm is more firmly clasped around her middle as she squirms closer, and shakes his head. "I know you have to go, Sabrina, but I also believe that it won't be long until you see me again. One way or another."

"Ah ha! See you did finally impress me." A glimmer of mirth before she moves on to a more pressing subject. "I know it won't. Perhaps I could figure out a way to leave someone else in charge of the division or even bid to take another position here on Coruscant again, even if it's a down grade. So long as you promise not to go running off to Selene again." Sabrina's brow furrows with worry. Pushing those thoughts aside to the proverbial back burner however, she smiles again. "Everything is far more rigid with the military. Even more so than it had been in the rebellion. But it normally doesn't bother me. Except when I don't care to think about what time it is, like now." As much as she didn't want to however, duty compels her to turn her head til she can see just enough of the clock to figure out the time. It would be sunrise in a few minutes. "I should start to get ready...shower, eat." She pauses "oh yeah, and get dressed. Small detail." She winks at him playfully.