CW: Stitches, alcohol

"Ow!" Kanan sucked in the word with a sharp gasp and jerked his hand back, nearly whacking the bed frame with his elbow. He and Hera were sitting on his bed, examining a particularly nasty gash on his palm. "That hurt!"

Hera tugged it back, scowling in response at his hand. "Well, if you'd stop wiggling, this would be a lot easier for both of us, love."

Kanan groaned in exasperation and looked away as she dabbed disinfectant on his palm. "I think I need another shot," he muttered.

"Be my guest," Hera replied, and passed him the nearly-empty bottle of liquor without looking up. There couldn't have been more than two shots left in there- was Zeb getting into his secret supply again?

Kanan knocked it back without another thought, swallowing with a shudder. "Okay. I'm ready."

Hera looked up at him teasingly. "Are you sure?" she asked as she held up the needle and tweezers tauntingly.

"Ugh." He shivered. "Just do it."

"You big baby," she said, grinning.

"Do you know what? The next vagabond we pick up is gonna be a medical droid. I swear, Hera. You have way too much fun with this."

"Do not," she said as a sterilized sewing needle pierced his skin. "Your palms are getting sweaty."

"I don't- like- needles," he said through gritted teeth.

"You'd be a weirdo if you did," Hera replied airily.

"Don't we-" he hissed as he felt the thread tug through his skin- "don't we have any more bacta patches?"

"Ran out last week. Come on. I'll be done in a minute."

"Naughh," he groaned acidly, staring pointedly into the corner. He was careful to hold his palm far away from him to keep it out of his field of view.

"Look, this isn't so bad, huh? Think of your Jedi tricks. Maybe you should've meditated beforehand instead of downing a few shots. But I guess old habits die hard," she joked. "We'll try that next time, huh? Anyway, doesn't matter. Tell me what you were fixing when this happened."

Her voice was so soothing. He felt shaky, but Hera's voice was so calming. Kanan didn't want to reply. If he was talking, it meant that she wasn't.

"You talk," he grunted, hardly able to manage anything else.

Hera chuckled. She knew. She understood. "Okay. I'm gonna guess … that you were fixing the coolant pump on the Phantom, huh? From when I scraped the underbelly? I never did get around to fixing that properly. Was it that?"

Kanan shook his head. His hand still prickled, but he did his best to focus on her voice instead.

"All right, maybe it was the trivalve assembly? Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I had to make an emergency landing on Sullust the last time that broke? Oh, speaking of Sullust… We ought to check up on Zaluna soon. It's been a little while. I don't think she's met our most recent additions to the crew yet."

Hera paused to concentrate for a moment, steady fingers resting lightly on his hand while she worked.

She continued on smoothly. "I bet she'd love to meet Sabine. Even though she's blind now… You know what? I'm sure she'd love to hear Sabine talk about all the colors she uses in her paintings. Not to mention her bombs. Whew, Zal will sure get a kick out of hearing about those!" Hera laughed at the thought. "Good old Zal. I bet she's doing just fine. How are you doing?"

"'M okay," Kanan said stoically.

"Good. I'm finished. You can open your eyes now, love."

"Oh." Kanan cracked his eyes open. He'd hardly noticed he'd squeezed them shut in the first place.

"See?" she exclaimed with mock enthusiasm, bending his arm at the elbow for him to look at his own battered palm.

Kanan squirmed and looked away. "I'll take your word for it."

Hera laughed at him. She laid a piece of gauze over the wound and wrapped a bandage around up to his wrist. "All done," she said, but she didn't let go of his hand. "Anything else I can do to make it better?"

Kanan felt a smile creep across his face. Now the alcohol was starting to hit him, and he couldn't stop himself from saying, "Well, maybe I can think of one thing…"

Hera smiled. "I can too," she said, and leaned in to brush his cheek with the back of her fingernails.

"I really don't know what I'd do without you," Kanan said quietly. "You're amazing."

"I know," she said, and when she kissed him he forgot about the stitches completely.