Riyo gracefully threaded her way through the crowd of stuffy politicians at the gala, pausing to exchange brief pleasantries where it was required. She was well aware her allies encompassed very few, especially after taking her bold stance on clone rights.

One particularly rude ambassador from an Outer Rim planet with as much or perhaps even less precedence as Pantora had the audacity to confront her about her policies and then request to dance with her.

Riyo mustered a polite refusal, but the ambassador was insistent and went as far as to reach out to pull her close to him. She cringed and shied back from his groping hold.

"I really must decline because I already have an escort," she lied briskly, trying to keep a respectable distance between them.

Goddess help her. She really didn't want to cause a scene by slapping this guy.

"I haven't seen you with anyone this entire evening," challenged the ambassador.

Oh, so he'd been watching her all this time? Wonderful. He really was a sleemo.

Her eyes frantically searched the crowd and happened to meet with one of the clone officers who'd been selected to attend the event as a guest and not a guard for once. He didn't have the happiest of expressions on his face and appeared as though he'd rather be anywhere but at the gala. To be fair, she shared his sentiments as the evening wore on, especially now. However, he appeared to immediately key in on her plight and made his way over.

"This is..." Her mind raced to place who this was. The list was rather short as she could only push for a few clones as attendees. "Commander Fox."

The officer's face gave the slightest twitch of surprise that she'd managed to place his name.

She was equally surprised when he greeted her with a polite nod. "Senator Chuchi."

He very pointedly did not acknowledge the ambassador.

The ambassador's expression twisted into one of disdainful disbelief. He scoffed, "Oh my, I did not believe your misplaced sympathies went so far as to make you a-"

While Riyo might have been okay to bite her tongue and let the insults strike as they may, Commander Fox was quick to silence him. He made sure to emphasize their differing titles. "Ambassador, you would be wise to treat the Senator here with the utmost respect, even if your perspectives differ. I can have you arrested."

"Arrested?!" exclaimed the ambassador. "For what? You butt out of this you meat droid."

"Harassment," replied Fox simply. He crossed his arms and his dress greys did little to hide the tensed muscles underneath. "My boys have cameras everywhere."

He nodded to the numerous guards stationed at every entrance point of the venue, their buckets trained attentively on the partygoers.

The rude ambassador glowered, but wisely backed down and went away to undoubtedly spew indecorous rumors.

Once he was gone, Fox and Riyo began speaking simultaneously, "I'm sorry-"

Fox reflexively allowed for the senator to speak first.

"I apologize for pulling you into that mess."

Fox shook his head. "It is my duty and honor to serve the Senate. I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner."

When he turned to depart to the fringes of the crowd again, Riyo halted him, "Wait. Do you mind if I stay with you for the rest of the evening?"

The Marshal Commander once again went alert. If the senator was feeling threatened, then he would gladly take care of it. But she just stood there, looking expectantly at him, not showing any signs of apprehension, but perhaps just slight embarrassment.

Once he determined there was no immediate threat, he hesitated. He knew she was sympathetic to them, but she was still a politician with other factors to consider. "Are you sure? Being seen with a clone probably won't do your image any good."

"He's under the impression that you're my escort already," shrugged Riyo.

"Escort? Like a guard?"

Riyo flushed as she admitted, "No, like a date."

Against all better judgment and protocol, Fox chose to banter a little with this rare breed of benevolent senator. "Oh, a date? I wasn't aware I was invited as your plus one."

Picking up on his playfulness, Riyo shrewdly replied, "Technically, I am the reason you and the other Commanders are here, so you could all count as my plus four."

"You do not want Thire as your plus one," scoffed Fox, continuing to argue his case. "I never got a formal invitation." His next words came out less jesting and more bitter than he intended. "They just told me to throw on my dress greys and mingle with the elites who normally like to pretend we're little more than ugly decor."

Instead of getting upset with his honesty, there was a genuine spark of sympathy in Riyo's gaze as she curtsied– to him of all people! People like her didn't bow to lowly clones like him.

Her voice held nothing but gentle earnestness as she extended her hand out to him with her palm up and said, "Then allow me to officially and cordially invite you, dear Commander Fox, to accompany me to the 551st Senate Gala. May our evening go better than it started."

Fox momentarily stared at her proffered hand like she had grown an extra thumb right before his eyes.

Understanding his hesitance, Riyo reassured him, "You are a guest here as am I. We can interact with each other as equals. Something that I hope to be commonplace in the future."

Fox slowly took her hand and he swore it felt magical, which was not helped by the swelling of music from the orchestra.

"Care for a dance?" asked Riyo, a radiant smile on her face and her hand still holding his. "One dance- just one. That's all."

At the Commander's panicked expression, Riyo feared that she might have overstepped. "Or if you can't or don't want to, that's okay!"

"Sorry, Senator," apologized Fox. "I'm afraid dancing was not covered in our battle training on Kamino."

He tried to nervously withdraw his hand from hers, but she held tight.

Feeling rather adventurous for unknown reasons, Riyo grinned. "Like I said. That is completely fine. It would be poor sport of me to not consider my date."

She was elated to see the light red that creeped up the Commander's cheekbones.

"I hear Dex's Diner is open rather late," she noted, pulling Fox toward the nearest exit.

It filled her with a sense of exhilaration to be playing hooky from a grand but admittedly tiresome senatorial event.

"You want to go there?" questioned Fox.

He'd never been himself but he knew of the place. Greasy finger food more befitting a hungover drunk than an elegant senator.

"Yes, and at such a late hour, I doubt it would be proper for a lady to go unaccompanied."

With no proper argument and a strong desire to get out of the stuffy atmosphere of the gala, Fox followed her out the door.

And just like that, Fox and Riyo were chatting animatedly and sitting across from one another at a booth with a basket of nerf nuggets between them. As it turned out, the gruff, taciturn Marshal Commander was far less so in the presence of Senator Chuchi. But he had to pause mid-ramble as he caught the way her golden eyes tracked him as if he was the most important thing in the galaxy.

Having gotten bolder as the night wore on, Fox didn't hesitate to question her expression.

Made equally as comfortable and bold in the presence of the now familiar Commander, Riyo sighed contentedly, her eyes still trained on him, "I just think this has been the best date I've ever been on."

Unlike the politics of the Senate, Fox was real and honest and wonderful. At this point, she couldn't even be abashed by how she was pretty much ogling the poor officer.

Okay, now Fox was even more certain this was some sort of magical evening because there was no way this goddess of a senator said that to him.

Just as he was about to comment on how sad her other dates must've been because he hardly thought their "date" constituted as anything special, she continued, "Because I'm with you."

Well, if he wasn't smitten before, Fox certainly was now.