It was quite some time later that Anakin finally stirred.

Zelina sat straighter from her slouched position against the wall where she had been dozing, at his side in an instant as he pushed himself up onto his arms. "Anakin..." she whispered gently, a hand on his back.

"Zelina?" he muttered. Beside him, Obi-Wan stirred as Anakin shook his head, as if to dispel the groggy sensation plaguing his senses. "Master? What happened..?"

"You got drunk," Zelina said flatly as the boys dragged themselves into sitting positions.

"Well...I guess that pirate brew was stronger than we thought," Obi-Wan said somewhat sheepishly as he tested the strength of his bonds.

"Uh, I only took a sip," Anakin said with a guilty smile.

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Zelina said sarcastically.

"We were drugged, obviously," Obi-Wan finally said reasonably.

"Probably in one of the last cups, when your senses were too dulled to pick up on the drug. You did go downhill a little too fast for it to be a normal wasted," Zelina said thoughtfully. "Yeah, you were definitely drugged."

"Why would they risk losing the ransom?" Anakin asked pointedly.

"The deal appears to have changed; they must be trying to triple their payday," Obi-Wan said grimly.

"A shrewd observation Master Kenobi," came the voice of the other occupant of the cell that Zelina had almost forgotten about.

It was easy to forget about him when they weren't fighting. He'd left her be the entire time since she had turned down his generous offer before he could even really begin his pitch. Of course, she wasn't about to tell the boys about Dooku's proposition while they had been unconscious. They both could be rather protective over her like two big brothers if the opportunity presented itself.

"Oh great; it's you," Anakin said sourly.

"Oh, right, did I forget to mention we're sharing a cell—and bonds—with Dooku? It slipped my mind while I was pondering you're little drinking show last night," Zelina said sarcastically.

"I did warn you these pirates were devious," Dooku said sharply. "You will notice our shackles are bound together. I have tried to separate us...to no avail," Dooku said, his gaze sliding over to Zelina, who looked away without a word.

Anakin, however, had plenty to say. So much to say that Obi-Wan and Zelina had to jointly hold him back from Dooku.

"It's bad enough we have to be in the same cell, but could you at least spare me the sound of your constant chatter?" Anakin said rather loudly as Zelina and Obi-Wan pushed him back away from Dooku.

"Anakin, he's hardly even said anything," Zelina said with a thin smile.

"And while I hold my tongue, the two of you will devise a brilliant strategy for getting off this God-forsaken planet?"

"Yes!" Obi-Wan and Anakin said sharply.

"Excellent," Dooku said, leaning against the wall. The entire scene caused Zelina to smile for a moment. It was pretty amusing. Obi-Wan and Anakin started to observe every inch of the room, and Zelina had to move with them since she was the other end of their bonds.

After a while she rolled her eyes and took a seat on the floor like Dooku. "So you two are devising our escape plan...we're doomed."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Zee," Anakin said with a scowl.

"Anytime."

*******************************

Somehow, Zelina wasn't surprised when Dooku was suddenly the one in control of their escape. When conducting deceitful and secretive acts such as a prison break, who better to go?

Currently, Obi-Wan and Anakin were watching Dooku—Anakin rather impatiently—as he focused on something outside of the cell. Zelina was not at an angle to see what, though she was currently working to amend that, pushing her way in front of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

A food platter outside rattled, starting to raise off of the crate it was on.

"Don't you think our priorities should be escape first, eat second?" Anakin said snidely. Zelina rolled her eyes at the remark as Dooku pulled the plate closer and a knife came into view on the dish.

"Do control your protégé's insolence so I can concentrate," Dooku growled at Obi-Wan as he dropped the plate, guiding the knife closer to their cell.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan said scolding.

"What?" Anakin asked sharply.

"Control your insolence; the Count is concentrating."

Zelina snickered. "Yes, and he's making much more progress than you two were earlier."

"Funny," Anakin said with a roll of his eyes.

Dooku smirked as he shoved the knife into the control panel, opening the door easily. "Well done, if I do say so myself," he said as he looked around. As Dooku took the lead, Zelina was forced to the back behind Anakin, straining around her friend's broad and muscular form to see what was going on ahead as they filed out of the room.

"Most impressive," Obi-Wan quipped.

"Now let's try not to get caught; that seems to be where we—Anakin especially—always fail," Zelina added.

"Hey!" Anakin protested.

"Just telling it as it is," Zelina said with a smirk as they all shuffled cautiously forward.

"We do know where we're going, don't we?" Anakin asked from the back after some time walking through several halls, Dooku leading the way. Zelina had only recognized a few from her trip to the cell, but she hadn't said anything. It had seemed like Dooku knew where he was going.

"Hush Anakin!" Obi-Wan scolded him before peering around towards Dooku. "Do we know where we're going?"

Dooku sighed in obvious agitation, rubbing his temples as if he was forcing himself to refrain from snapping their necks.

"Quiet," he snapped before taking out a guard in two smooth moves as the guard appeared around a corner. Anakin kneeled to check the guard's unconscious form. "I was brought this way when I was captured; it will open then..."

"Hey, I found the door key," Anakin said in a hushed tone as he stood back up. Zelina looked off to the side and cut off the current conversation immediately.

"It's that stupid little monkey-lizard!" she stated, seizing the creature in a Force grip before it could weasel away. It fought violently against her grip, and she smiled a little. "Now, now, we don't want you running off and warning someone about us, do we? Why don't you just take a little nap..." she mumbled, putting it into a deep slumber with the Force."

After she settled the creature behind the crates, she noticed the guys were staring at her. She cocked an eyebrow. "What, no thank you that I just kept the thing from alerting the pirates of our escape in progress? Gah, just don't screw it up. We're almost there."

"Whatever," Anakin said with a small smirk as he shuffled over to the key panel.

"This is the way to the hanger," Dooku informed them.

"Yes but are you sure it's safe?" Obi-Wan asked cautiously.

"The key works," Anakin stated as a confirming beep sounded from the panel. Obi-Wan turned to Dooku.

"It is safe?"

"Of course it is," Dooku said scathingly as the door slid open to reveal an entire pack of pirates lounging in the halls.

"Right..." Obi-Wan stated with a small smirk.

Zelina frowned. "Why do I have the sudden sense of déjà vu? Perhaps I'm thinking the Malevolence all over again, down to Obi-Wan's timely statement...oh well, either way, the jigs up. So much for not getting caught. This always happens to us, especially Anakin. Maybe we should have left him behind in the cell..."

"Zee?"

"Yes Anakin?"

"Shut up."

********************************

"What were we thinking? Following a Sith Lord..." Anakin complained as the four of them were bound even tighter to each other in a small circle in the middle of the room. Zelina stood between Anakin and Dooku.

"Hey, at least he got us out of the cell," Zelina scolded him.

"Oh, what to do, what to do, what to do..." the pirate leader—Hondo, from what Zelina had heard from the pirates on their way back to the cell—muttered. "I don't want to kill you, per say; in fact you seem like decent fellows—and a decent lady. Even you Count. Dis is just business, and once I get my money, we can go back to being friends, ha! It's very simple. Now try not to complicate things by breaking out again."

With that, Hondo left, leaving the four of them alone in the cell once more.

"Tell me how this is better from how we started?" Zelina muttered to Anakin, who smirked.

"We have to get out of here before the Republic arrives with the ransom!" Obi-Wan stated.

"Why thank you Captain Obvious!" Zelina responded sarcastically.

"You are not in a good mood, are you Zee?" Anakin asked.

"And you are?"

"I'm in a better one than you are, yes."

"Let's look back at last night..."

"Let's not."

"Are you two done yet?" the Count growled. "For once, I agree with Kenobi. Now, let's focus on escaping, and not your petty personal problems."

****************************************

"You do not want to stand guard."

Zelina, Anakin, and Dooku all stood back as Obi-Wan took his turn trying to break them out, using a Jedi Mind Trick—a skill Zelina had noticed her friend was very proficient in—on their current guard to get him to let them go.

"I do not want to stand guard..." the pirate responded drearily.

"You want to deactivate the cell bars and...go out drinking!" Obi-Wan said, throwing out the first pirate pass time that came to mind.

"I want to deactivate the cell bars and go out drinking..." the pirate repeated before doing just that, turning to leave as soon as the door slid open.

"Not bad," Anakin said as they all slipped out of the door once more.

"Oh yes, most impressive Master Kenobi," Dooku complimented with a twinge of sarcasm.

"Let's try not to get captured this time," Zelina said dryly.

"Will do. But this time, if we get captured, it's on Obi-Wan," Anakin said with a smirk.

"Behave you two. You already give me a headache, you don't need to give the esteemed Count one too," Obi-Wan scolded.

"That would be much obliged," Dooku mumbled, yet again with a taste of sarcasm.

***********************************

Somehow, even though he was technically in the middle, Anakin ended up leading their group, creeping along stealthily while the others all strolled along, making no effort to hide themselves like Anakin, who walked hunched over and with carefully placed steps. Occasionally, they would have to pull Dooku forward, who was walking infuriatingly slow sometimes.

"Oh, hurry it up Dooku!" Obi-Wan growled softly before pushing him behind a stack of crates the rest of them were already hiding behind as a patrol passed by the hall in front of them. Anakin waited until they were moving again to speak.

"You should be more patient Master; after all, the Count is an elderly gentleman, and doesn't move like he used to," Anakin quipped as the four of them came even with each other.

"I suppose you're right," Obi-Wan said with a smirk.

"I would kill you both right now if I did not have to drag your bodies," Dooku snarled. Zelina chuckled while the boys glared at Dooku.

"Hey, looks like I get to survive in that case," she joked.

"Perhaps because you actually have a brain," Dooku responded coolly. Zelina shook her head, smiling a little as she met Anakin's eyes. The look on his face however erased her smile as she finally realized what all this picking on Obi-Wan and Anakin with Dooku must look like, and her eyes flickered to Anakin's mechanical right arm. The same arm he had replaced after losing his real one protecting Zelina from Dooku himself. Suddenly, she felt a little sick, and stared hard at her own hands, resolving not to take Dooku's side anymore.

But that didn't mean she was going to join in on their relentless belittling him either. They did still need him to escape, and she wasn't stupid enough to ridicule someone who was helping them, lest their temporary ally withdraw his help.

******************************************

Predictably, with their luck, they tripped an alarm, and were currently running through the halls in a desperate attempt to escape the guards on their tails. Dooku knocked over a pile of crates to slow down the guards as they rounded one corner. On the next corner, Anakin kicked down the door that led them out into open air. However, he was a little too forceful, and they all landed in a heap on the door outside with a cacophony of grunts.

"Now we just have to get beyond that wall!" Obi-Wan stated.

"Alright...how many Force Sensitives does it take to scale a wall...this shouldn't be too hard!" Zelina quipped as they all clambered to their feet.

"Let's go!" Anakin said, probably tasting the freedom just ahead of them as he grabbed a pole and raced for the wall.

"Anakin, are you sure you're thinking this over?" Zelina warned. Surely he wasn't thinking of trying to pole vault them over the wall. There was four of them total; four! And he wasn't even one of the ends of their binders, Zelina and Dooku were! Pole vaulting was not an option; it was simple physics.

Well...maybe with the right amount of Force assistance...

"Everyone needs to pitch in with this jump," she shouted as they raced forward, just out of reach of the guards that were tailing them.

Finally Anakin found his spot, launching himself into the air with the pole and a Force assisted push while the others all used a Force assisted jump to add a little more height and not drag him down as they all sailed through the air.

They still fell just short, though Anakin did manage to hang onto the ledge with a grunt. "This is not...going well!"

"Easy for you to say! You're not one of the ones dangling in the air," Zelina grumbled, staring down at the ground from Anakin's right. Obi-Wan and Dooku dangled from Anakin's right. She looked up at him. "Do you think you can suffer through me using you as a ladder? If I can climb up there I can help you up, and we can get the other two up," she rationalized.

"Be my guest," Anakin grunted.

No sooner after Zelina had grabbed Anakin's leg to start climbing, blaster fire filled the air and Obi-Wan and Dooku swung wildly below them. Dooku's bond got separated from Obi-Wan's, but Obi-Wan managed to fall backwards and catch Dooku before the Count could fall to his death.

Now Zelina was at Anakin's waist, trying not to think of how awkward this was as she wiggled up him and taking extra care with where she placed her hands.

"Hey!" Anakin protested with a grunt as he slipped a little from Obi-Wan and Dooku's aerobics. "What are you guys doing?"

"They're too heavy...I can't...hold on," Anakin grunted as Zelina wiggled a little further. She wound her arm over his shoulder, her chin resting on his shoulder.

"Just a little longer Ani, I'm almost there," she whispered in his ear, eyes focused on the ledge in front of her.

Anakin slipped a little farther.

"Drop Dooku!" he called back to the other two over his other shoulder. Zelina tapped the shoulder her chin was on, staring grimly at the boots that had just appeared in front of them on the ledge as the blaster fire stopped. Anakin finally looked up as Zelina buried her face in his neck. She heard Hondo sigh.

"I guess this means we won't be friends..."

"Oh...poodoo," she whispered into Anakin's neck as his hair tickled her face, arms still hooked around his shoulder and torso.

"You can say that again," he muttered.

***********************************

"We have to find a way out of here before Senator Kharrus and Jar Jar arrive. We'll look like fools."

"Yes Obi-Wan, we have established that," Zelina said warily from her spot behind Anakin, who was sitting cross-legged across from Obi-Wan. Zelina and Dooku were the only one's standing, both of them leaning against the wall.

"I think it's time to lose the dead weight," Anakin growled, standing up and advancing on Dooku.

Obi-Wan looked like he would reprimand Anakin, but Zelina beat him to it, putting a strong hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Anakin; breathe," she said soothingly, rubbing her thumb gently over his shoulder, pulling him back. He complied, and his hard glare softened, but didn't entirely go away. He had to look away from Dooku for that.

The door opened behind them, shattering the moment as several pirates came in. "Hey, you three; come with us," the pirate barked, pointing to the Jedi. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Zelina all shared a look before they were reluctantly led away. Anakin scowled when one of them knocked him in the back of the head with their blaster.

*************************************

"I take it the Republic didn't arrive with the ransom?" Obi-Wan asked after him and Anakin were strapped up for all the pirates to see in the banquet hall. Zelina was being detained off to the side by two pirates; they'd pointed a blaster at her head for their compliance, which had ticked Anakin off pretty quickly.

The pirates around them laughed at Obi-Wan's statement.

"Eh, your Republic obviously doesn't want the Sith Lord," Hondo replied.

"They didn't show?" Obi-Wan inquired, surprised.

"Oh, oh, they did, they did show; with a huge army that they thought would be enough to get the better of me! Hondo!"

"That can't be right!" Anakin protested.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Hondo asked dangerously.

"Uh, isn't that kind of what you do for a living?" Anakin asked.

"Not now Anakin, no snide comments right now," Zelina plead with him under her breath, straining against the grip of the pirates holding her slightly. Vaguely, she wondered why she was still there if they were only going to string up the boys.

"You reject my hospitality, refuse to wait in your cell, and now you're going to insult me!" Hondo said, shouting at the end.

"I'm just saying—" Anakin started, but Obi-Wan cut him off.

"Anakin!" he warned. Apparently Obi-Wan felt the same danger Zelina was feeling at the moment.

"What? He is a pirate!" Anakin said.

Zelina wasn't paying attention to them anymore. Hondo had pulled something out of his coat, and the danger in the Force amplified. "Anakin, will you stop insulting the person holding us captive!" she protested loudly. Not remaining silent earned her a blaster pressed under her chin, but she hardly reacted other than to tip her head up.

"Yes, but like Zelina said, this may not be the best time for you to speak!" Obi-Wan said, some of his desperation leaking through.

"But you—"

"At all Anakin!" Obi-Wan cut off, his voice rising to brush panic.

Hondo pressed the button, and Anakin and Obi-Wan erupted into screams of pain as they were suddenly electrified by the device that held them. Zelina yanked against her captors, pulling free of one of them easily and almost free of the other.

"Anakin!" she shouted, struggling even as she was yanked back by the pirates again. Several more appeared to hold her back as she struggled to get to him. His screams were tearing at her heart; she couldn't stand the sound of him in pain. Especially when she could even feel some of it through the Force.

"You're going to stay still and shut up!" snarled one of the pirates, slapping her across the face. It seemed Hondo was there the next minute, a hand grasping the pirate's wrist before he could repeat the action.

"You'd be wise not to harm the lady again in my presence," Hondo growled. "Or else I will make you regret it."

Zelina's hands were balled into fists as she strained against the pirates holding them. "Please, stop," she plead with Hondo. His wretched little monkey-lizard laughed at her, twirling her lightsaber in its little hands.

"Why should I?" Hondo asked.

Zelina lowered her voice. "Please, at the least, let me take one of their places," she plead softly, eyeing Anakin with a pained expression.

Suddenly the power went out, and their screams stopped as the electrifying device shut down. Hondo whipped around. "What happened to the power? I was having fun!" he complained. Zelina's helpless nature disappeared in a second, and she yanked her two captives towards the floor, bringing their heads to connect hard against her knees before shaking them off and calling her lightsaber to her from the monkey-lizard's hands and activating it in one quick move. The next, she held her lightsaber in front of Hondo's throat as Obi-Wan and Anakin summoned their own lightsabers to them, freeing themselves and standing at the ready at Zelina's side.

"What are you doing?" Hondo asked in confusion.

"What does it look like?" Zelina responded, careful to be gentle with him and not hurt him...but making sure he would not get away. The pirates in the room aimed their blasters at their little group. "We're going to take a little walk..."

"What chance do you really have Jedi?" Hondo asked as Zelina, Anakin, and Obi-Wan slowly edged out of the pirate's hideout. So long as they had Hondo, the others wouldn't fire. "Now let me go, and I might let you live!"

"I'll let you go...when we're safely out of here," Zelina responded smoothly and quietly to Hondo as they emerged outside once more.

"Approach us...and he dies," Anakin warned the others.

"Isn't that a little contradictory to what I just said?" Zelina asked him.

He smiled. "They don't know that," he muttered to her.

"Looks like your forces were destroyed Jedi," Hondo suddenly said, and Zelina looked behind her to see the pirate's tanks approaching from behind. She didn't let him go though. Something felt different...somehow, the tanks didn't seem to pose a threat.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared from one of the tanks. "Ani! Obi! Zeeleena!"

"Jar Jar?" Anakin and Zelina asked in equal surprise.

"Messa has arrived with the spices!"

"Excellent Jar Jar. Assuming the pirates still have Dooku to trade," Obi-Wan responded calmly.

As if in response, they heard a ship power up and watched as it flew away, Dooku's presence disappearing with it.

"Well...that answers that question," Anakin said with a smirk as they started to back up again, watching the other pirates wearily as they retreated even with the ship to their left.

"Commander," Obi-Wan stated. "Start the engines please."

"So what now Jedi?" Hondo asked. "You're going to arrest me, eh?"

"No," Obi-Wan said simply, deactivating his lightsaber. "Zelina, let him go."

"Told you," Zelina told Hondo with a smirk as she deactivated her own lightsaber.

"What?" Anakin asked, ready to protest. He was the only one with a still lit lightsaber.

"Captain, you have nothing we want. And since we're not prisoners anymore, you have no bargaining power," Obi-Wan explained as Hondo popped his neck.

"What? Yousa was in bombad trouble? Messa rescued you!" Jar Jar suddenly said from behind Obi-Wan.

"No, Jar Jar, we...weren't in any trouble," Anakin muttered quickly.

"Let's leave on even terms," Obi-Wan responded smoothly as Anakin finally deactivated his lightsaber, and they all started to board the ship, leaving Hondo dumbstruck where he'd been standing since Zelina had let him go.

"Hold, hold!" Hondo suddenly said as the pirates rushed forward, blasters poised and evoking the troopers to do the same. "Jedi! After everything, you're just going to walk away?"

Obi-Wan smiled. "We have no quarrel with you and we seek no revenge."

"Indeed. Very honorable...Master Jedi..." Hondo muttered.

"Oh Captain; you will find that Count Dooku does not share our sense of honor; and...he knows where you live," Obi-Wan finished, and with that, they all turned to finally enter the ship before it started to take off.

"What a nice, ominous tone to leave behind Obi-Wan," Zelina quipped.

"I try," he said with a small smile. They both watched as Anakin slipped away, believing he was doing so unnoticed. Zelina sighed. Normally she'd go after him, but she had something to say to Obi-Wan first. In fact, Obi-Wan seemed to notice the fact she hadn't done just that. "Aren't you going to go see what's up with him?"

Zelina gave him a look. "You know Obi-Wan, I'm not always around to go calm him down or pry what's bothering him out into the open. At some point you've got to learn how to talk to him too. You know, be more open with him, communicate; and that doesn't mean give him a bunch of lectures or something, that means talk to him as his friend, as his brother which you practically are. That's what he really needs."

Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow. "Where is this coming from?"

Zelina sighed. "This war is already starting to take a toll on him. He's changing, and he needs all the support he can get to keep him from going astray," she said wisely. "I'm just saying...you might find yourself in a position one of these days where you need to be the one to get him to open up; you can't keep waiting for him to come to you, because sometimes he's too afraid to...but don't tell him I said that," she finished with a sheepish smile.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard thoughtfully, watching her appraisingly. "I'll keep that in mind...You have definitely grown up. You're not the little girl I knew from Tatooine anymore," he said with a small smile.

"Some days I wish I was," she said softly before sighing. "Anyway, I'm going to stop beating around the bush; I wanted to apologize for how I acted back on the Malevolence...and afterwards. There's not really any excuse for my actions—"

"You don't need to apologize Zelina, I understand," Obi-Wan said, cutting her off as he put a hand on her shoulder. He smiled a little. "I knew once you'd cooled down and had enough time to clear your head you'd be back on track; especially since Anakin went to talk to you. He gets through to you as well as you get through to him."

"Still...I feel like you and I haven't really talked like we used to," she said sheepishly, looking away.

"I'm sure in time the situation will rectify itself. You can come to me if you ever need anything Zelina, you know that."

"The same goes for you Obi-Wan," she said with a small smile. "No internalizing or going lone wolf, we have enough of that from Anakin."

"Speaking of..." Obi-Wan said pointedly, inclining his head towards the hall Anakin had disappeared down. Zelina nodded.

"I'll go talk to him, see what's on his mind..." she said softly to Obi-Wan, giving him a thin smile.

"I'll be in the cockpit whenever you two are ready," Obi-Wan responded, letting his hand drop away and already walking down the hall. Zelina sighed, making her way towards where she could sense Anakin's presence. Oh yes, something definitely had him miffed.

Zelina opened the door, and there was Anakin, stretched out on his bed and tweaking his mechanical arm, the glove laid out over his stomach. He glanced up at her when she entered, but other than that made no acknowledgement of her presence and simply went back to his hand. Still, she didn't ask for permission, and didn't let his silence bother her. Instead she crossed the room, sitting down in the chair across from the bed.

"Reflexes slowing down again?" she asked nonchalantly.

"A little," he replied shortly.

"So that's the technical problem...what's bothering you?" Zelina asked.

Anakin scowled, suddenly concentrated on the hand a little more. "You and Dooku seemed pretty cozy together. It was like it didn't even bother you that he was there; that we had to share the same cell. It's not like he took my arm, very nearly killed you, and tried to kill Obi-Wan."

Zelina watched him silently for a few moments. Anakin seemed determined not to look at her at the moment. "Well, in the Jedi view of things, we're not supposed to hold grudges. Of course, I can't exactly use that as my excuse considering I do still hold something against him for taking your arm. On the other hand...It's not that I was comfortable being around him, just that I didn't see the need to belittling him when we had to work together. And you two were doing that enough on your own."

"Still, it was almost like you were siding with him!" Anakin exclaimed hotly, slamming something into place on his hand before sitting up sharply. "I mean, come on Zelina, it's Dooku! How could you have possibly acted like that around him?"

She studied him quietly for a few moments, looking down at her hands. "If I was siding with him, then this entire day would have gone much differently starting from when you woke up, considering he practically asked me to join him on the dark side before you two woke up."

Anakin didn't respond, and the room was infuriatingly silent for several moments before he finally broke it.

"What?" he asked in a hushed tone. Zelina couldn't tell if he was shocked or furious.

"He went off with the usual 'you possess so much more potential than the Jedi can help you unlock' spiel, but I turned him down before he could get too far into it. It would seem the esteemed Count has entertained the idea of making me an apprentice," she said bitterly. "It won't happen of course. Ever."

When Anakin still didn't respond, Zelina looked up, finally meeting his blue-jem gaze. It seemed alight with a fiery protectiveness.

"I won't let him anywhere near you," he said fiercely.

Zelina chuckled. "Don't worry Anakin; I don't plan on going to the dark side at any point in my life. His offer fell on deaf ears."

Anakin sighed, looking away. "I'm sorry for my outburst, I guess I just felt a little...betrayed at the time."

She shook her head. "It's fine, I understand. I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just wasn't really thinking about what I was doing; I just wanted out of there," she said with a small smile. "But...I guess enough of that if we're already past the issues there. I'm much rather forget about this whole fiasco. Especially the part where Jar Jar...somewhat rescued us...that information is never going to leave this ship by the way!" she said with a laugh.

Anakin laughed as well. "Yeah, that is rather embarrassing..."

"Uhg, we'll never live it down if that gets out."

"Which is why it won't."

"Agreed," she said with a grin as they stood up, clasping Anakin's arm. "So...we're good right?"

Anakin smiled slightly. "Yeah...we're good Zee."

She nodded. "Now come on, Obi-Wan's waiting in the cockpit. Let's not leave him alone with Jar Jar too long or this ship might end up exploding."

Anakin laughed. "Yes, I'd rather not get burned to a crisp today."

"Or any day for that matter."

"Yeah...I don't think that would be a pleasant experience..."

"Not at all."