I hadn't seen her in a week. We decided that we wanted to take things slow and not rush into this, so I was going to just talk to her in her room today. We were going to have to appreciate the little moments we got alone. We were on dangerous grounds now.

Because every Com had a tracker in it and we had to wear it at all times, someone would know if Vers and I were together. Another Commander would only have to check my location and we would be busted. So during the day, we never met. I was on duty and she was as well, it was too much of a risk. So we would both have to give up some precious nighttime to see each other.

It was worth it though. She was worth it.

So on day seven, I snuck out of my apartment at twelve and quietly made my way over to her room. It was quiet in the hallways, but I did pass some people. They didn't pay any attention to me luckily, so at twelve-thirty, I knocked on her door. I was just as nervous as last week.

I didn't stay in her room for too long after we had kissed. Yon knew where I had gone and if he had come to look for me, he would have found us in a very close position. So I hadn't actually talked to her a lot after that.

The door went open and her hand immediately took mine, pulling me in. 'Well, hello to you too', I laughed at her.

'Hey', she smiled back. Pulling me with her to the bed. The room didn't have a couch, so we had no other option than to sit there.

'Shouldn't you take me on a date first?', I teased her. Her ears turned red just like her cheeks and she stuck her tongue out at me.

'Says the woman who kissed me', she returned back to me, sitting and pulling me down with her.

'Hey! That is not true! You were going to kiss me but you took too long, so I had to make a decision', I said with a huff.

'So you are saying that you did kiss me', she tilted her head a bit to the side and raised one eyebrow.

'No, it was a mutual kissing', I said matter-of-factly.

After a short silence in which she pretended to think about my compromise, she replied, nodding, 'Hmm, I can live with that'. We both laughed at that.

Her brown eyes seemed to take me in as I waited for her to say something, but I didn't mind her eyes on me. I wished she would always look at me like that.

'I am curious about something, though', she suddenly said in the silence that had settled over us.

'Shoot'

'What made you change your mind? About us?' I liked the way she said that. Us. Like we we no longer individuals but two people who belonged together.

My cheeks turned red from the embarrassment I felt, even though there was no need to. I knew she wouldn't judge me. 'What do you think? I walk into the Commanders offices and I hear that your ship was shot down. All I could think about is if you were okay. Then I knew I was already in too deep, so I decided to jump all the way'. I then looked up and laughed at the memory, 'I think I scared the shit out of the woman behind the desk at the hospital wing when I demanded she tell me where you were.'

Vers laughed at that. 'Poor woman.'

'Yeah, I hope I don't have to see her again soon, might have to apologize', I replied, staring down at her hand that was still holding mine.

'And we both know how good you are at that', Vers taunted me. I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head, smiling.

'Is there any more you would like to know?' It was meant as a joke, but her expression turned serious.

'I want to know about you', she said, eyeing my reaction 'I would tell you something about me, but I don't remember anything about my life.'

'Yeah how are you with that? Any more dreams?' I remembered she had told me a few years ago that she had seen little bits from her old life and I wanted to know if she had remembered anything from before, but I could see on her face that was not the case.

'I'm sorry', I said softly, grabbing her free hand with mine, rubbing my thumb along her palm. She smiled a sad smile when she glanced down, trying to hide the tears. 'Just little flashes, nothing I can make out', she said sadly. 'But, there is one woman', she added suddenly, a little more hopeful. 'I don't remember her, but I see her when I visit the Supreme Intelligence so she must have meant something to me. If I could only find out who she is, then maybe I can piece it all back together.'

I was shocked that she just casually mentioned who she saw as the SI and Vers seemed to sense there was something wrong, so she turned her eyes back to my face, curious as to why I hadn't answered her. 'What is wrong?', she asked concerned, but figured out the answer on her own when she played back her words in her head. 'Oh. Yeah I never understood the secrecy around that', she told me honestly, 'Besides, I already know who you see, so it is only fair that I return the favor', she added with a smile.

I smiled in appreciation. She knew something of me, so she gave me something back of hers. It gave me the courage to give her something back in return.

'We will find out what happened to you', I said, trying to give her hope, 'but in the meantime, what do you want to know about me?', I asked. I hoped she wouldn't go too personal immediately.

She thought about what she wanted to ask and suddenly her eyes lit up a little, having found a question. 'Your hair and your eyes. Why purple? Not that I don't like it, I do, it's just, why not blue or orange?', she asked me carefully, hoping she wasn't crossing a line.

I laughed at her cautious expression. I felt comfortable answering her question. I loved talking about my home planet, even though it hurt a little, wanting to keep its memory alive. 'I can't answer that question without giving a little information about my home planet too, if that is okay with you?' She nodded, a little too fast, as a way of encouraging me to go on. 'Alright', I smiled.

So I told her about my people. Their habits and traditions. I told her about all the colors our hair and eyes could have. I told her that my purple hair was seen as a sign of royalty (she raised a teasing eyebrow at that, which earned her a playful smack from me) and that it was kind of rare. I even told her what color my parents had. All the while, she listened intently and didn't interrupt me unless she had an urgent question.

She made me feel safe. Safe to say whatever I wanted to. If I didn't want to talk about something, she noticed and changed the subject. It was like she read me like an open book.

That night, I left her room at half past two, feeling the happiest I had felt in years. My father was right. Nobody could live without love.

I was walking down a hallway of HQ, on my way to check on one of my Captains in the Captain's office. He wanted to discuss something with me. Something about a mission.

Vers and I had decided that she would stay with Yon-Rogg's unit. It would draw to much unwanted attention when suddenly switching places and that was exactly what we didn't want. Besides, we wanted to stay away from each other during the day. We were too much of a distraction to each other and we knew we would be found out faster that way.

But I was going to see her again tonight, so I was feeling very happy today. I was a lot happier in general. But it was the middle of the day and my shift just started, so I would have to wait a while. Or so I thought.

When I walked past just another one of hundred side corridors I had already passed on my way, a hand suddenly grabbed mine and pulled me in. There was only one person that could be.

'V, what are you doing?', I asked, frantically looking around, trying to see if nobody saw how she had pinned me against the wall. But everybody was either working or asleep, so there was no one to be seen.

'Relax Yala, there is nobody here', she said with a mischievous look in her eyes that told me nothing good. She had put her hands on the wall on both sides of my head, locking me in with her body. As much as I liked how close she was, I couldn't help but feel anxious.

'I just have a message for you. Meet me at the entrance of the park tonight. I have a surprise I think you might like', she whispered in my ear, making shivers run down my spine. She pulled her head back and grinned at the way my body reacted to her. She gave me a quick kiss on my cheek, pushed herself off the wall and walked away in the direction I just came from.

Taking a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart down. I pushed myself off the wall and continued my way to the Captain's office with only her on my mind.

That night, I made my way over to the park, making sure nobody saw me. This was the first time we were meeting outside of her room. I guess you could say this was our first 'date'.

She was waiting for me at the entrance, just out of sight from anyone passing by. She said nothing, just took my hand and guided me deeper into the park. I had never been here before. I had no reason to be. So I was surprised when I saw a big telescope standing right before me when we turned the corner. She studied my face carefully and my reaction to it clearly satisfied her.

'I had no idea this was here', I whispered, following her towards it.

'I hoped so', she said. 'Because there is something you should see.' She looked through the little eye on our end, making sure the telescope still showed what she wanted me to see. When it did, she pulled my hand so I was standing in her place now. Letting go of my hand, she went to stand behind me, putting both her hands on my shoulders. 'Go on', she said.

So I looked through. And what it showed me made my heart stop for a second. It was something I hadn't seen in more than 16 years, Atera.

Pulling my head back, I blinked a couple times as if to make sure my eyes were fine, and looked again.

There it was. Green and beautiful. I had learned that the whole population was exterminated because of the Skrull attack, but even though there were no people anymore, it was still there. I had never had the courage to pull up a hologram of my home planet, knowing it would break my heart. For Vers to take the effort to find this place and point the telescope to the home she knew I immensely missed, meant a lot to me. More than I could ever expres to her.

That was the first night she ever saw me cry. She just held me and rubbed small circles on my back, letting me know that she was here and it was okay to cry. I felt safe in her arms. She definitely earned the kisses she got from me that night.

Today was a the saddest day of the year for me. It was the day of the attack on my home. The day my parents died. I had thought about cancelling our date for today, but changed my mind after thinking about how much my parents would love for me to bring Vers to our little tradition. Every year, I would climb to the roof of HQ and sit there, looking up at the stars, knowing my parents were up there somewhere. Maybe it was stupid, but I felt closer to them on the roof.

Some years I just cried, others I would tell them whole stories about my life. Last year, I decided to not bring Vers yet. I trusted her, but not with that part of myself yet. This year however, we had moved things to the next level and I decided she deserved to know about my parents too. It was the only thing I refused to talk about to this day. And even though she understood and never pushed me, I knew she felt a little disappointed that I didn't trust her enough to tell her.

But that was about to change today.

I came to her door around midnight, as usual, but didn't step in when she opened it. On my face, she saw something was wrong. 'Put on some shoes and maybe a coat, we are going for a little climb', I said to her quietly. She looked at me weirdly, but decided not to ask. I don't know if she remembered that this day was today, but if she did, she didn't say anything. So she quickly put on some shoes and a coat and followed me down the hall.

We climbed the stairs to the tenth floor and there I opened the door to the roof with a bobby pin. Stepping through first, I held the door open for her. It softly closed behind her and I guided her to the air conditioning system that stood on the roof where we could sit on. The thousands of sun panels on the roof lay useless in the night.

After we sat down, I turned to her. 'I don't know if you remember what day it is today', I said to her, sadly. 'I do', she said to my surprise, 'Is that why we are up here?', she asked softly, trying to catch my eyes but not succeeding.

'Yes. This is the last and only part of me you haven't seen. I wasn't comfortable bringing you here last year yet, but now I am', she smiled at that, very happy that I had finally found it within myself to completely trust her.

'I come here every year on the day they died. I talk to them or just sit here, looking at the stars. It makes me feel connected to them.'

She took my hand when I continued, looking down at them. 'My parents were the most beautiful people I knew, inside and out. My mother was kind, soft and she loved me more than anything in the world. We were like one person. She had the same hair and eyes I have, so sometimes I see her when I look in the mirror. She loved summer and baking and could sing like a nightingale. My father always said that she was as pure as the water she wielded', I felt tears running over my cheeks, but didn't wipe them away. I knew Vers didn't care that I cried.

'My father was kind like my mother, but he was also strong and very funny. There wasn't a day where he didn't crack a joke or he wasn't happy. You actually remind me of him a lot', I said, looking up at Vers. I could see the tears jumping in her eyes when I said that. 'I was his little girl. He never got mad at me, just wanted to help me. Even when I blew over the dining table once' Vers laughed at that, which made me look at her again.

'They would have loved you, you know. Especially my dad. I wish you had the chance to meet them.'

'I am sure I would have loved them too, but they gave me you and I couldn't be more thankful for that', she said softly, cupping my left cheek with her right hand. 'Thank you. For telling me this. For trusting me with this.' Her eyes full of love.

'I love you, Vers.'

'I love you too, Yala.'

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

I hope you enjoyed these little flashes of the two years they had to keep their relationship a secret. Let me know if you would like to see more of these little moments, so I can maybe add an extra chapter.

We will finally go into the movie in the next one, so keep reading!

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