Jesse and Fives had curled up behind the bed, shutters of the window pulled close.

In the darkness they had listened to Lucia moving about the house, then the door flying open.

They were ready to jump up at any time. Five's hated not knowing what was happening. The breath hitched in his throat, he found himself wishing, hurting for the company of his brothers, the info, and the gear.

He and he knew Jesse was feeling the same, hated waiting.

It was only a small comfort having Jesse beside him, waiting with him.

The action was alright, they had been trained, bred for that, but just sitting in the dusty room, not knowing what was happening was near unbearable.

Five's breath had hitched in his throat as he heard muffled voices, people in heavy boots coming closer and finally, leaving.

They staid behind cover for a long time, ready to jump. Fives cursed that he had let himself be led into a dead end, perhaps they would go outside of the window, would have to if they came in, but no one did.

Slowly they shifted, no longer coiled up, ready to jump, flee at any moment, but sitting down, hiding in the dark.

As nothing happened, as the time crept on with only their breathing audible Jesse's head started to sink forward.

When he slumped to the side, he caught himself before falling against Five's shoulder. His brother smiled and while he wished for some sign of their host he presumed he wasn't getting one.

"Come on Jesse, up." Fives pushed a hand under his brothers shoulder. He helped Jesse back into bed, told him to stay still, but that was hardly necessary.

His brother had given his all during the day, given more than he had during the run. Jesse tried fighting the sleep, but lying down in the warm bed he was loosing fast.

Fives listened to his brother's breath for a few more moments, then carefully pried back of the cupboard loose and slipped through. Old coats brushed against him, a bag full of sweet smelling dried flowers brushed against his nose.

Fives brushed it away, breathing softly through his mouth, listening hard.

There were some sounds, but nothing organized, just some clanking, as if pots were moved around.

Fives took one long look over his shoulder.

"I guess if they knew we were here they would have flushed us out already. Wish me luck Vod."

He whispered before pushing the door open carefully, cringing at the creaking hinges, those things needed to be oiled, badly.

Fives peered through the crack, the corridor was empty. He climbed out, trying not to make a sound.

He found it harder than he would have liked, he was stiff, hurting, far away from his top form and also the wood floors creaked and moved at every step he took.

The top floor was entirely empty, lights in the second bedroom and bathroom out. Fives was careful to keep below the windows.

As Fives came shuffling down the stairs he saw Lucia, standing in the kitchen and pouring blue milk into a pot.

He noticed her hands were trembling; she was leaning forwards slightly, unconsciously making herself a smaller target.

The trooper took care to make some noise before stepping into the kitchen area.

"Hey." Fives said as he rested against the wall, watching her.

"What's that?"

Lucia faced away from him as she cracked an egg open and carefully separated the yolk from the white, letting it slide into the hot milk.

"Dinner."

Fives waited for another comment on the happenings, as none came he continued.

"We will be out of your hair by tomorrow."

She sighed and turned towards him, facing him for the first time since she had opened the door.

"In your state? The place will still be crawling with people. I don't know how good you are, but your friend won't make it far."

The ARC shook his head.

"First of all, he's my brother, not just my friend and secondly," he glared at her, "I am not leaving him. I don't leave my brothers behind."

Lucia bit her lip lightly, poured a generous amount of sugar and semolina into the milk.

She started stirring it rapidly as she avoided Five's eyes again, shrinking away from his ire.

"That's not what I was suggesting. You can stay a bit longer, until you think you can make it."

He hesitated. Jesse needed the rest and if what She if she was making dinner it was high in carbohydrates and fats, easy to digest and exactly what his Vod, both of the Fives admitted, needed to get up to their feet. There was only the question of...

"Why?"

He focused on her, trying to see past the tremor in her hands, her nervousness. Was she afraid? Yes, just of breaking the law or was she luring them into a trap?

"That should be thick enough." Lucia pushed the put off of the hot stove and turned it off.

Then she turned towards Fives, facing him entirely as she straightened her shoulders.

"I don't know." She started, spreading her hands as if to show that she was unarmed.

"I have never broken the law. Feck today was the first time in ages I lied."

Lucia hugged herself slightly, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, breaking eye contact.

"All I know is that it's not right. I don't know what you to have done, but…" She shook her head and looked at Fives.

"You don't deserve that. You don't deserve the way they treated you. Besides," Lucia took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, "I let you have the water, gave you those bars and let you in here. I started it and I am going to end it."

Fives searched her face for dishonesty, a lie, anything, but found steely resolve under the fear. He nodded to himself, found that he liked what he saw.

"You have nothing to be afraid of, not from me and of from Jesse. They brought us here because we refused order 37 and ran."

Fives pushed himself away from the wall and motioned for the bowls.

"Can I help you with that?"

Lucia didn't answer straight away. "What is order 37?" She inquired.

Fives reached over the stove for the bowls, fingers gripping them tightly. His voice was monotonous as he replied:

"It involved the capture of civilian hostages in order to convince the population to hand over a desired individual."

He paused and continued, voice softer, head hanging in shame.

"We were born to protect the people of the Republic."

His fingers felt stiff as he held the dishes out for her to fill and continued: "We were made to fight the republic's enemies, not their own people. When the orders came, kept getting worse, both Jesse and I ran."

Fives fell silent for a moment, remembring what they had been told to do, then shook it off and continued.

"We were created so the people of the republic didn't have to fight the war, didn't have to do what we were trained to do, but even we have our limits."

Silence fell between the two of them, then Lucia started to ladleda generous portion of the thickened meal into the bowls. Her hands had stopped trembling.

She broke the silence, speaking softly. "Thank you for telling me. Take this upstairs. I will lock everthing up, get some more things - please help yourselves to anything you need."


Fives set the dishes down on the nightstand; the bowls had become quiet hot. He pulled away the office chair from the desk and sat down in it, putting his feet up on Jesse's bed, trying not to wake his brother up.

Fives picked up one bowl, the mixture steamed gently as he pushed his spoon through it.

The clones filled it and sceptically sniffed at the food before he took a bite.

It was hot, creamy and incredibly sweet, just right for a clone; Fives closed his eyes.

He took another bite and forced himself to eat slowly, bite for bite instead of wolfing it down.

Jesse coughed, shoulders rising from the bed with the force of the attack.

As the coughs died down he let himself sink back, but was held up as Fives pushed another pillow behind his back.

Jesse blinked lazily at Fives as he leaned into the incredibly soft cushion, as if wondering where he was.

Fives pressed the untouched bowl into Jesse's left hand and pushed a spoon in his right.

"Eat." He said, pointing at Jesse's portion with his own.

"It is good, great even." Fives took another bite, both to prove his words and to get another bit of the sweet mix before it cooled.

Jesse stared at his bowl with glassy eyes for a moment before tucking in listlessly.

He ate without real appetite and pushed it away after only a few mouthfuls, shaking his head carefully.

Fives sighed, taking the bowl from shaking fingers. Jesse motioned that he wanted to lie down again and Fives pulled the pillow away from behind his brothers back.

He kept a hand on Jesse's hot shoulder and guided him backwards. His sick brother was fast asleep before Fives could say even an encouraging word.

Soon Fives' bowl sat licked empty on the nightstand. He was contemplating if he should start on Jesse's when something scraped at the boards.

He was up in a heartbeat, hands up in defence, shoulders squared. He relaxed as Lucia climbed through the hole.

She stopped, carefully looking at Fives as she held up a bottle of water and pointed towards the backpack on her shoulder.

"Things for tomorrow." She whispered, watching Jesse's sleeping form, careful to not wake him up.

Fives relaxed and took the offered water while she walked a to the nightstand and started to unpack.

"Some holo novels and news together with plenty of water and some medicine."

She looked over her shoulder, and stopped, startled to see that Fives had followed her without a noise. He reached over her arm and fished out the other things she had brought with her.

Fever suppressants, immune boosters and cough syrup, he noted that they were very basic, civilian standard he guessed, but these would have to do. He was grateful for anything and everything.

"I know it's not much, but they are all I have from the last cold season."

Fives shook his head as he bend over his brother, carefully rousing him with a careful hand on his shoulder to pour the dosage of syrup into him.

Jesse didn't quite wake up, grumbling a word or too before quieting and settling back down.

Fives smiled lightly as he watched his brother grimace. He pulled the covers up, marvelled at the softness. Smoothing them down over Jesse's chest the ARC allowed himself a moment to breathe before straightening up.

Lucia stood at their side, nervously wringing her hands.

Fives sat back down in the chair, groaning slightly as stiff muscles relaxed and put up his legs back on the bed.

"It is more than we had for a long while. With plenty of rest and fluid he should do well. Thank you."

He stopped, thinking he should say more. He didn't know much about how much people had, the concept of credits still foreign even with his covert ops training.

No matter if it was a lot or just a bit, he and Jesse were taking up resources, putting her in danger and still she did everything to help them, hadn't talked even when the Imperials had come straight into her house.

Lucia just nodded, brow still creased with worry. She did not seem to expect another word of him.

"I will see if I can get some better antibiotics tomorrow, just to be sure. Talking about tomorrow..."

She trailed off, started wringing her hands in worry.

"I have closed the curtains for the windows, but would feel better if you would stay in here or at least upstairs."

Fives nodded tiredly, "sounds smart, keep the movement in the house as normal as possible."

"The bed by the way is big enough for two. Do you need another pillow?"

She tilted her head, rubbing her hands, Fives noted, as if she was cold. He presumed it was a nervous tick. Anxiety made you feel chilly.

Fives shook his head, and then nodded, changing his mind.

"Yes please, thank you."

Lucia dug through a few drawers and came up with something she declared 'alright', but the pillow was the fluffiest thing Fives had felt in half a lifetime.

"Feel free to help yourself to anything you need."

She avoided eye contact and crept back through the wardrobe.

Fives pushed the pillow between his head and the wall and put his feet up on the bed.

Listening to Jesse's laboured breathing wasn't the best way to fall asleep, but it wasn't the worst either.

No guards, a full stomach and for the first time in forever, a feeling of safety.

Fives reached out with his hand and stroked the cool metal of the deece, hidden behind the headboard of the bed.

He had heard the imperials and he had clutched the weapon as tightly as he could, but she hadn't talked, the men had left.


A.N.:

So, a few days early, jope that is alright with everyone.

Holidays are over, so I find myself with a lot less time to write than before. I will try to keep posting regularly, but might pick up a two-weeks scedule instead of once per week, sorry for that.

Nevertheless I will keep writing whenever I can, your reviews are awesome, thank you so much for the support.

Until (hopefully, I am trying, promise!) next week.