Shortly after the events of White Snow: Contention

"You sure you're up to this?"

Vhetin nodded, his face a mask of grim determination. "I can do this. Just give me space."

Janada took a step back and said, "Take it slow. Whenever you're ready."

He pursed his lips, then slowly clenched his hands into fists. He grimaced against the pain, but held the position. Janada could see his hands shaking, could see the sweat beginning to bead along his forehead. She raised a hand and said, "All right, little bro. I think that's enough. Don't want to go too far too fast."

He quickly relaxed his hands, letting out a short gasp. He cursed quietly and sighed, "It's been a whole damn week already and I still can't close a fist without my shabla skin burning."

"You're doing better," she pointed out. "Three days ago you could barely move your fingers at all."

"But it's not good enough!" he hissed, staring at his bright red palms. In the week since the fight in the sewers, the bounty hunter's hands had become severely inflamed from radiation, the skin warping and turning a bright, livid red. He'd finally gotten the bandages off a day previous, but his hands were still highly sensitive and prone to stinging at the slightest provocation.

Janada wasn't too proud to admit that it hurt to see her little brother in such a state. Vhetin was always tough and confident, always rebounding from his injuries with almost unnatural speed and vigor. But this was different. The radiation poisoning had thankfully been caught in time to negate the worst damage, but there was still the issue of his pseudo-pneumonia virus that the Imperials had given him. The sickness seemed to come and go, but it was sticking with him like a son of a bitch.

Janada had overhead some of the doctors talking among themselves about transferring him to a medcenter on Coruscant, one qualified enough to deal with such afflictions. She had quickly stepped in and threatened to break their precious operating hands if they went through with such a plan; transferring Cin to Imperial City would just get him caught again that much faster.

Vhetin lay back against his hospital cot with a sigh. "How am I supposed to use my saber pike if I can't even close my hands?"

"It'll get better," Janada reassured him. "The baar'ure are optimistic you'll have a full recovery."

"Yes, but how long is it going to take?"

"You should count yourself lucky there's a treatment at all," Janada said. "If it was fifteen years ago, Keldabe wouldn't have had a medcenter qualified to treat you. They would've had to amputate your hands to keep the radiation from killing you."

Vhetin scoffed. "One thing the Empire's done for us, at least."

Janada rolled her eyes. "Has anyone ever told you how bitter you get when you're hurt, vod? You may act like some big tough bounty hunter, but you're kind of a baby."

He shook his head. "I'm just not the kind of guy who likes sitting around on his ass all the time."

She laughed. "You almost died. I'm sure they'll forgive you for taking a bit of a break."

"Kriff that," Vhetin sighed, resting his raw hands over his chest. "Get me back out there with a gun in my hands. I can't stand laying around like this."

Janada grinned, but let the matter rest. She settled herself into the bedside seat and folded one leg over her knee. She had refused to leave her brother's side since he'd been admitted. She was sure he found it at least a little annoying, but refused to let him out of her sight regardless. He'd already been kidnapped by the Imps for months on end; she wasn't going to let him get into any more trouble without her there to either hold him back or join in.

Still, she couldn't just sit around and watch her brother sleep. It was boring and she wouldn't stand for it. She decided to rile things up.

"So…" she said slowly, a knowing grin tugging at her lips. "I've noticed you getting all chummy with that woman who changes your bandages."

Vhetin opened one eye. "Nurse Vachiira? What's it matter to you?"

"She's cute."

He sighed and closed the eye. "Te Manda save me. Don't start."

"The fact you let her walk in here without your helmet or that kriffing mask tells me you think she's cute too."

He shook his head and pretended to be falling asleep. "Who I find cute is none of your shabla business, Janada."

"When're you going to ask her out?"

"I didn't plan on ever doing it."

"Oh come on," she sighed, slapping her thighs for emphasis. "Your partner's got a new boyfriend, your ex has a new boyfriend, word from the south is that Tamai's got a new girlfriend… You're falling behind the curve, little bro. It's time you got a girl too."

He opened his eyes. "And you think Nurse Vachiira is a good place to start?"

Janada shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to get a contact inside a well-stocked and well-funded medcenter. You certainly can't keep relying on Rame all the time to patch you up."

He chuckled. "I don't know about your relationship with Verdo, but I don't find people attractive based solely on their usefulness to my career."

Janada shrugged. "Your loss. I guess there's always the Echani to chase after."

Vhetin's eyes opened again. "Seriously? You're going to go there?"

"I don't see why not," she shot back with a grin. "Long as you're feeling up for a fight."

He shook his head. "She just offered to train me. That's all."

"We Mandos have found worse excuses to cover up some good ol' hanky-panky."

He groaned and put a hand to his forehead, then grimaced when he irritated his burns again. "I cannot believe you just said that. You're ridiculous."

"And you love it," she said. There wasn't much for her to do other while waiting for him to recuperate other than torment him.

There was a buzz from the door and none other than Nurse Vachiira stepped in, brushing a wayward strand of raven-black hair from her pretty blue eyes. Janada glanced over at her brother and bounced her eyebrows suggestively. He responded with a well-worn Mandalorian hand gesture that made her throw her head back in laughter.

"Sorry to interrupt," the nurse said, "but Cin's up for another round of radiotherapy. Hope you didn't have a big breakfast."

Reluctantly, Janada stood and brushed her hands off. "Okay. I'll leave you to it, Stripes. I'll see you around noon? I'll bring you a nice take-out lunch from the Oyu'baat."

Vhetin pulled a face. "I think after radiotherapy, I'm going to need it."

Janada nodded and headed for the door. She paused next to Nurse Vachiira and leaned close, murmuring, "From what I've heard, your patient is a great kisser. Just food for thought."

Then she walked out. As the door swung shut behind her, she heard Vhetin sigh in exasperation and mutter, "Ignore her."

Then she grinned and headed further down the hall.