In the End {1}

~ Dress Shopping ~

~months earlier, on Coruscant~

Ahsoka stared at herself in the mirror of the dressing room. She wasn't sure why Lux had insisted she try on this particular dress. It felt bulky on her and didn't match her skin tone. Though she would never admit it out loud, she was very self conscious about the way she looked. It mattered less to her what she wore on the battlefield; the clones wouldn't judge and neither would Anakin. At fancy events, though, when she was surrounded by people of nobility and wealth, she always felt like her body wasn't good enough. They were small, thin and delicate people, and Ahsoka was none of those. Trying on dresses had only made her more certain of that fact. 

"No, this one isn't going to work," she said to Lux, who was patiently waiting to see the dress on the other side of the fitting room door.

"Can I at least get a peek before you take it off?"

She opened the door and crossed her arms. "See? It's not it. I don't like it."

He stood up and took a few steps closer. "You're absolutely gorgeous, sweetheart, but you're right. Let's try something else."

She groaned. "We've been trying on dresses for two hours. Can't we just get some cheap, generic dress from another store? Fancy really isn't my thing." He had insisted that she get her dress from one of the high end boutiques on Coruscant prior to her arrival on Onderon. There were so many options, and it was taking her forever to find one that was fancy enough for Lux but simple enough for Ahsoka.

He kissed the back of her lekku. "Yeah, we could, but I want to make sure the dress you get looks as beautiful as you are, and we won't find that in a cheap, generic dress."

She wanted to protest, say that she wasn't beautiful, but it was so hard to argue with him. Maybe he saw something in her that she couldn't see in herself. She smiled and sent her self-conscious thoughts to the back of her mind. He always knew the right thing to say.

"Okay, fine. One more round for today, and if we don't find anything, we get food. Deal?"

"Deal." He picked up the dresses she'd already tried on and took them with him. He was back moments later with a few more dresses of varied styles and lengths.

"Try some of these," he said, placing them on the rack.

Her eye was immediately drawn to a green dress toward the back of the pile. She closed the door and pulled it off the hangar. It was a hunter green dress that lacked the obnoxious sparkle of the other dresses she'd tried on. It had a halter neckline, just like her uniform and was open in the back. Her arms felt bare without her armbands, but she could be okay with that for one night. The dress was fitted in the torso and was snug around her hips and thighs before flaring out at her knees.

A/N: Sorry for the interruption! I'll be quick. Don't judge my terrible art skills. I literally cannot draw, but here's my rendition of Ahsoka's dress. It helped me visualize when I was writing it, so I thought you might find it helpful as well. 

Now read on!

Once she was in it, however, she realized the zipper in the back was placed jut out of her reach.

She opened the door and turned around. "Zip me up?"

Lux took a step inside and closed the dressing room door behind him. She felt his hands brush against her skin as he slowly moved the zipper. When he was done, he rested his head between her montrals and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

"What do you think? You're the one that's gotta to wear it."

"I actually kinda like it." She spun around, letting the dress fan out around her feet. "I could see myself wearing this. It's a lot less frilly and pretentious than everything else I've tried on today." He laughed. "No, really," she continued, "What do you think?"

"I think you're beautiful no matter what you decide."

She kissed him lightly. He had no idea how good it made her feel when he said that she was beautiful. "Thanks. I guess I'll go with this one, then. Shoes and accessories next? I don't think my utility belt is going to match."

Lux walked over to the bench outside the dressing room and picked up a couple of boxes. "I had a feeling this might be the dress. I went ahead and grabbed some things." The shoes he picked were a pair of matching green heels. They had a strap in the front and a strap around her ankle with some gold accents throughout. He also brought some lekku accessories and a small purse.

The heels were uncomfortable, which wasn't surprising. The lekku accessories, however, were a very nice touch. They complemented the outfit quite nicely without drawing too much attention.

"Who knew you were so good at accessorizing!" She joked.

"Nah, I had someone helping me out front. What do you think?"

She surveyed herself in the mirror. The dress did a good job of showing off her figure without being too revealing, and with the accessories added, she felt like she might actually look worthy of dating a rich senator.

"It's perfect. Do you think I look okay? It's not too much, is it?"

"I think there's only one thing that could possibly look better on you."

She raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"Nothing," he shrugged.

"Hey, come on! What?" she smiled and took a step back.

"No, I mean nothing. The only thing that would look better is nothing."

She hit him playfully on his arm. "Lux!"

He kissed her sweetly. "What? I'm being honest, here!"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Bonteri. I'm going to change. I'll meet you up front?"

He pointed to another dress on the rack that he had separated from the others. It was light blue and far more casual than the others. It had an off-the-shoulder top with ruffles and a small bow at the waistline. "Put this on instead of your uniform." He handed her a pair of short white booties with a low heel. "These too."

"Why?"

"Because you're going to look great in them. I'm going to go pay for everything, including that second dress."

"Oh no, it's okay, I can pay for it. This stuff is expensive, and–"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "My treat. You've done so much for me. Just let me spoil you this once."

"If you insist."

And he was right; she really did like that little blue dress.