Roger sat on one of the large cream sofas in the living ‘room’. He was propped up in the corner by some of the throw pillows. He had tucked his dress uniform away and changed into a pair of khakis and pale green sweater. He had debated about going to bed, knowing Eela might be out late. But she had barely exchanged more than a few words with anyone after fleeing the ballroom before she disappeared with Mathis and family. He knew she needed time to process, but at the same time he was concerned.

He had returned to the apartment alone after finding a place to eat, while Karilan tended to their business and probably her employee as well.

The quietude of the penthouse allowed for a great deal of introspection. Not that he had come to any solid conclusions, except that of all the places he could be in the galaxy, right here was where he most wanted to be. Eela needed all the support she could get as she tackled the many challenges tossed her way in recent months. He had known Oed would bring a lot of changes for his best friend, but it hurt to see her struggle so hard. And yet, he couldn’t be prouder. She was finding her way, with help, and standing strong on her own two feet. As he always knew she would.

Pensiveness passing after awhile, he turned to the endless reading his yeoman sent him. At least she was on R&R- not that that hadn’t stopped her from preemptively giving him several reports that required his attention.

The sound of the front door stole his attention and he turned to look towards the hallway. “Eela?” he called out.

There was the small thud, then another as Eela slipped off her shoes and dropped them by the chair in the foyer. Then silence before she appeared before him, her barefeet silent on the stone floors, the grey hood of her mourning wear off her head and askew over one shoulder. She gazed at him, those hazel eyes always so expressive and all he saw was resignation. “Hey,” she said, before walking over to the sofa. Walking was probably a generous description, as it was clear she was not steady on her feet. For Eela to be staggering at all meant she was beyond drunk. Accident recovery aside, he had never seen her stumble around, even at her drunkest, and there had been more than a few occasions that he had witnessed. This was something else.

“Dare I ask how much you drunk?” Roger asked as she slumped onto the sofa beside him.

“We lost track,” she said, gesturing with her pointer finger and looking rather serious. “Convenient. Dere was more than one bottle, if…Irecall. Now, to be fair, not all of them were new when we starded, but we made good effort to put dents in a few.”

It was so hard not to smirk at the slight slurring. He wasn’t going to bug her about the drinking. Hell, if she hadn’t done so with Mathis, he would have opened something here with her. She needed the release. However, hangovers sucked and this would be a bad one tomorrow if they didn’t do something to counter it. “Have you had any water?”

She tilted her head up towards the ceiling and frowned. “I tink dere might’ave been, but I cannot confirm.”

Roger got up and rested his hand on her shoulder. “You stay put and I’ll get some. Otherwise, you’ll be swearing at me tomorrow for not making you drink something.”

Eela grunted and he moved off to the kitchen.

~Eela & Roger