Project Boussh: Is It an Affair if You Know Its Wrong and Stop?
by Alison Sky

Face had been sent upstairs to the makeshift eatery to find a 
corkscrew for the wine bottles.  /You'd think in a wine celler, there 
would be at least ONE damn bottle opener/ Face thought to himself.

As he entered, he saw a few of his Wraiths still sitting at a table, 
eating.  Quickly he pulled his collar up ove his face, hoping that no 
one noticed him.  He didn't want their company mainly because they 
would follow him to the wine celler, and he and Pash would be forced 
to share.

The cook pointed him over to a set of drawers, and Face fumbled 
around before he got the right utensil in his hand.  After that, he 
made a quick exit.


Kirney looked up from her spot at her private table.  She saw Face 
slink out, trying to hide himself from the others.  He walked in 
his "mischief" walk, and Kirney wondered if he was at all involved in 
the latest string of pranks being pulled at the palace.

Quickly, she got up and followed him out, planning on seeing where he 
was going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alison walked through the halls, finally getting clean from all her 
showers.  She was SURE that if she ended up in the showers again this 
day, the one sending her there would be in need of a shower 
themselves... to get rid of the bacta from their body.

As she rounded a corner, she felt herself collide with another 
figure.  She fell backwards and landed on her bum hard.  "OW!"

"Sorry," came a reply.  Alison looked up and saw Face crawling to get 
to his feet.

"You should be," Alison said.  "I'm sure you're just aching to get me 
back in bacta."

Shaking his head, Face laughed.  "Don't have my blaster on me... 
sorry."

The two friends fell silent.  They stared at the floor, then looked 
up at each other.

"We need to talk," both of them said at once.

The stopped, then started to laugh.  Alison wiggled her finger, and 
lead Face to a more private place to talk.  Face smiled, and followed 
her.



Kirney watched Face talk to someone around the corner, but she 
couldn't see who, nor hear the soft words exchanged between whoever 
it was.

Face disappeared around the corner, and Kirney continued to follow 
him.  She saw his enter a room that the first person had gone into.  
The door closed behind them.

She waited a few seconds to make sure they stayed inside, then went 
to the door crack and listened to what was said inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Face, I've been thinking...," Alison started, but stopped, unable to 
continue on her thought.

"As have I," Face stated.  "I still don't know what to make of all 
this."

"It's WRONG.  No matter what either of us think we're feeling, it's 
not right."

Face sat on the crate in the closet they hid in.  "I know that!  
Sheesh... it's not like I can control what goes on in my head 
sometimes.  These things happen, and we need to work around it."

"We need to FORGET it."  Alison looked at him with blazing 
eyes.  "Face, I'm a fighter, *not* a lover.  I'll never be one."

Face stood, his eyes softening.  "Don't say that... you don't know."

"I know," Alison stated, and silence settled in the room.  Face 
turned away from her and started to pace.



Kirney could not believe what she was hearing.  She moved her eye 
around the crack of the doorway, trying to find a crack to see into 
the room.  She found only one, but it let her see in far enough to 
make out Alison and Face in the middle of the room.

Biting her lip, and mentally cursing out the Terran, she continued to 
watch.



Alison spoke first.  "What are you going to tell Dia?"

Face shrugged.  "I don't know."

"Maybe we shouldn't tell her."

"What?"  Face turned to stare at her.

"Think about this.  In a few more days, you two will be back together 
and bound for your own galaxy.  I won't see you except your quick 
refueling visits at the Spaceport.  She doesn't need to know, doesn't 
need that pain."

Face walked to Alison.  "I would never hide anything from Dia.  She 
would be angry, but she would come to understand."

"Understand that for a moment you had strong feelings for a Terran 
who you trusted your life to and failed?"

"Stop that.  Stop it RIGHT now.  You NEVER failed me.  We've talked 
this over already."

Alison looked at the ground, a tear coming to her eye.  "I can't help 
it, Face.  I'm never going to forget seeing the image of you with 
that implant, the anger in your eyes.  You scared me, and I knew that 
what happened was all because of me."

Face put a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet his.  "You 
can't change the past, Alison.  Only live for the future and work to 
learn from your mistakes.  If you don't, you're going to keep 
thinking that you've got this big debt to pay off, and it'll just 
drive you crazy."

"Half of the group would say that they think I'm already crazy."

"And the other half already know."

Alison laughed, then bit her lip.  "Face..."

Face leaned his head closer.  "Yes?"

Before she could ask her question, Face took her head into his hands 
and kissed her deeply.  At first, Alison tried to resist, but she 
lost herself to the tiny tingling feelings inside her body.  She 
kissed him back, bringing her arms up to pull the Wraith Leader close 
to her.  



Kirney stood up, trying to keep her gasp from releasing.  Both her 
hands were balled into fists.

/That Daughter of a Sith!/ she thought, gritting her teeth in 
anger.  /And to think that I was supposed to trust her!  That Dia is 
her FRIEND!/

Kriney was torn as to whether she should storm into the room and kill 
the Terran where she stood, or just keep watching.  But, with the 
level of her anger increasing every moment, she just turned and 
walked away.

/You'll be hearing about this from me/ Kirney swore to herself.  /I'm 
not going to forget this betrayal./



Sense finally knocked through Face's head, and he released Alison.  
She looked up at him, a bit scared, a bit shocked.  He closed his 
eyes, then pulled out of her embrace and walked to the other side of 
the room.  "We have to stop that," he stated, wiping his hand across 
his lips.

"I know," Alison replied.  "We have to think of Dia."

"Dia."  Face looked upwards.  "You're right, we can't tell her about 
this.  She'll kill me."

"Kill you!"  Alison laughed.  "No, she'll kill me first, then just 
make you suffer the rest of your life."

"Yeah, that's Dia."  Face turned to Alison.  "We stop it here, now.  
When we walk out of this room, we're back to the old friendship we 
had before this whole mission started. Deal?"

Alison nodded.  "As you wish."

"No regrets?  No more feeling that you've failed?"

"Well..."

"No Alison, I want you to say it, and mean it.  I want you to know 
that you are NOT at fault, and stop trying to be the bad-ass warrior 
to prove yourself worthy again."  He crossed his arms over his 
chest.  "I'm waiting."

"I can say it, but I won't mean it."  Alison let her fingers play 
over the hilt of her sword.  "And what's wrong with being the bad-ass 
warrior?"

Face shook his head.  "I've made you into a monster."

Alison lifted one lip into a smirk.  "Glad you admit that one."

The two friends hugged, and Alison looked up at Face.  "No telling 
Dia?"

"Not unless we have to.  And I doubt anyone except Hobbie, Ooryl, 
Kristy and Emily know."

"Hobbie, Ooryl and Kristy will keep their mouths shut about it," 
Alison stated.  "Emily I'll just bribe."

"Bribery always works."

Alison smiled.  "Face, just one more thing... before we open that 
door."

Face looked down at her curiously.  "What?"

"Could you give me one more kiss?"  She bit her lower lip.  "Since 
I'm never going to find someone, at least I can remember these last 
few hours."

Face smiled, then kissed Alison on her forehead, and they 
seperated.  "Goodnight, Lady Sky.  Your prince is out there, 
somewhere.  Unfortunatly, I'm not him."

"Goodnight, Garik Loran."  She placed her hand on the door.  "Maybe 
I'll go try to get a few hours of unstunned sleep.  I hear it'll help 
people relax and think straight."  She smiled and winked at the actor.

"You do that."  He twirled the corkscrew around his fingers.  "I've 
got an Ace to cheer up."

"Pash?"

Face nodded.  "You'd be amazed at the bonding that the two of us have 
gone through."

Alison laughed.  "I'm amazed at everything that's been happening 
these past few days."  She opened the door and stepped over the 
threshold.

Face followed her, and shut the door behind them.  "And I'm sure 
there are many more to come."  He waved goodbye as he walked towards 
the stairwell, and Alison made her way back to medbay.

Neither of them noticed the fist-sized mark in the wooden panel a few 
feet away from the door.