Miriah rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was well past midnight, and Corso was fast asleep. For the past ten days, she'd been working whenever he slept, pushing herself harder and harder, managing to grab only a handful of hours of rest a day. She'd been trying to listen to the message before her, not even sure what species the being speaking belonged to. He was extorting her to come visit his planet, even including a subtle but very real threat that if she didn't, he would withdraw his world from the Alliance. Even after watching it a fifth time, she could hardly believe his arrogance, and shook her head. Go ahead, she thought, but she knew that would not be the best move for his people, and instead she gently shut the device off, standing to stretch.
She'd not seen her sister in the past week, still a little miffed at Mags for saying that she wasn't taking Corso's recovery seriously, and while Maura had been in and out, trying to lend support, the digs that Mags had taken had hurt. She crossed over to the bed, intending to slip in unnoticed, but when she turned she saw Corso's chocolate eyes, his brown scrunched in a frown. "That makes five nights in a row, darlin'. You can't keep this up," he murmured, drawing her close.
"The only important thing is that you are recovering, sugar." She lay her head on his bare shoulder and he could feel her relax against him.
"But, Mir," he started, but was stopped by her fingers on his lips.
"We'll discuss it in the morning," she said, yawning. He could see she was exhausted, and instead of talking, merely kissed her, seeing her eyes close.
By morning, she was gone before he woke and that frustrated him even more. He felt great, had been getting stronger every day, but still needed more rest than he had before his heart issue, and he hated that he still did. He dressed quickly and went to get breakfast, gathering more than enough for the two of them, hoping to catch Miriah in the office. When he peeked in, she was sitting there, her head being held up by both hands, reading something on her datapad. "There you are!" he said brightly, and saw the smile she forced onto her face. "Brought you some food, because I know you didn't eat earlier."
"You're right, I didn't," Miriah replied, and he quickly unpacked the bags he'd carried in. Before they ate, he pulled her face up and kissed her thoroughly. "Now you've got my body confused as to what it wants first," she whispered, and Corso grinned at her.
"Both of which can be delivered at any time, darlin'." They sat and ate, and the food seemed to revive Miriah's flagging energy. By the time Lana interrupted them, they both felt better, and Corso stood to go work out, kissing his wife once more before he left, leaving her leaning against the desk.
Lana's eyebrows were raised. "I think he's more back to normal than anything else," she said, seeing Miriah's eyes refocus, biting back laughter. They were discussing the last message Miriah had seen the night before when the blustering politician himself holocalled Lana's personal comm. Eager to remain out of sight, Miriah stood to leave, but Lana motioned her to stay and turned instead. After Lana repeatedly assured him that Miriah would be visiting but that a date could not be assigned yet, she finally got the man off the comm and sent an exasperated glance at Miriah, who was struggling to keep the giggle from bursting forth.
"That man is truly dogged," Lana said, letting a chuckle of her own escape.
"Yeah, he is," Miriah agreed, "but we do have to get an agenda together. I believe the month of waiting for Corso should be up next week, and we'll take it easy at first. I do want Dantooine on the list first, because if Cor has any trouble, at least we'll be on safe ground."
"Excellent idea," Lana commented, making notes on her datapad. "I had a request late yesterday that you might have an easier time with." At Miriah's raised eyebrow, she continued. "The new settlement would like to show you what they've accomplished. I told Arcann I'd pass the request along, they were asking for a visit possibly tomorrow." Miriah thought about it, and decided it was time to see what was going on past the base.
"I'll do it, tomorrow afternoon," she said, and saw Lana's nod. "Come with me, Lana, in case there are questions you know that I don't."
"Happy to," Lana said, and stood. "Now, what I need you to do is go talk to Magdalane and make sure that Corso is released to travel next week." At Miriah's look of apprehension, Lana took a step toward her. "Don't let her think you're intimidated. You're the Commander, even if she is your sister." Miriah took a moment to center herself and straightened her shoulders before striding out of the office.
Corso's muscles trembled as he stood from the weight bench and reached for his towel. He knew he needed some water and a nap, but wanted to push himself a little further before resting, something he'd been doing every day. He'd just stood to go out to the main part of the medcenter when her heard Miriah's voice. "I have done everything you instructed, Mags. Corso is doing well, isn't he?"
Magdalane voice was measured, calm. "Yes, he's fully recovered, but why do you need to rush off to other worlds? The rest of the galaxy won't fall apart if you take another week." Corso thought he heard a little smugness in Mags voice, something so odd as to catch his attention. Miriah's answer had him clenching his fists.
"Magdalane, I appreciate you saving Corso's life more than you can ever know, but he knows I have a job to carry through, even if you don't seem to acknowledge it." The measure of steel in Miriah's voice was a warning he knew well, and he swung the door open to see Mag's haughty expression, Miriah's posture stiff and unyielding.
"What's going on here?" he asked, and they both turned to him, speaking at once. "Wait, wait a minute," he demanded, and they both went silent. "Mags, I know you only want what's best for me, and I appreciate it, I truly do." He saw Mags nod and look a little uncomfortable at his words. "Mir, darlin', I know you have a job to do, and I know you've been working around the clock to get things done while giving me all the attention I needed. But there's no reason for you two to be at odds, I'm fine, thanks to all the work you've both done." He saw them look at each other, then away. Miriah's got her back up, and she won't budge, he thought. "Let's go, love, I need a shower," he told her as he put his arm around her, turning her toward the elevators.
"I need to finish some work," she mumbled, but he only pushed the button. Once the door opened, he kissed her nose.
"I forgot my bag," he said. "Go ahead home, darlin'. I'll be there in a minute." He watched as the doors closed before storming back into the medcenter, where Magdalane turned and was at once aware that she'd crossed a line.
"Now, Mags, I don't know what kind of beef you have with Miriah, but before you go off and accuse her of not doing things, you need to know that over the past three weeks, she's been with me almost every minute, but when I have to sleep, she works. She's worked every single night after I'm out, hours of work that she left off doing during the day so that she could devote her time to me." He took a breath and saw that Magdalane had the grace to look ashamed. "She's the reason I've recovered as quickly as I have, that I've been rested and happy and at ease. And I won't stand by and see you make her feel guilty. No more." He whirled and made his way to the elevator, intent on getting Miriah to rest with him this afternoon and not work.
Miriah had made her way across the war room, but not yet to the apartment when Corso caught up to her. "Now, this day is ours, love. What do you want to do? No taking care of anybody but yourself, you've earned a break," he told her, and she stopped walking.
"I'd love to get my hair cut and then have a massage, but I have too much to do," she said, but he shook his head.
"Nope, not today. Today is your day," he replied, and she looked at her feet. He gently lifted her face to his, bending to kiss her. "C'mon, darlin'. I'd bet the hair shop would be happy to fix you up, and then we'll go from there. It will make me happy." Together, they went out into the warmth and sun of the courtyard and across to the hair salon, where they were eager to pamper the Commander. When they'd finished, they ate lunch, uninterrupted, enjoying the mild weather. When they stood again, Corso took her hand and led her to the workout area and into the massage room, leaving her to their work and going to get a quick workout in himself.
Devin and Mia had seen his parents at lunch, but didn't join them. Devin was fascinated by Mia's abrupt change of mood in the past two days, and by the look in her shining eyes, she was finally going to tell him what had happened. She gathered her food plus a few extra things and sat across from him, beaming. "I can see you have news," he said, taking her hand.
"Oh, Dev, I really do. It's been so hard lately to find something good, since we're with no baby yet. I realized that I've been difficult to be around, but yesterday I was visiting the infant and toddler area, just to be around the babies, and the nurse told me there were two babies who's parents hadn't been located since the invasion." She took a bite of her food, but Devin knew how her mind worked and waited patiently for her to continue. "We could adopt one, Dev. A baby who needs us as much as we need him."
Devin thought about it, it had been almost a full month since the invasion, if a parent had survived, somewhere, they would have record of it. He would have to check the records and make sure, but otherwise he had no objection to giving an innocent child a home and love. The more he turned the idea over in his head, the more he was sure it was the right path. "Him?" he replied, and saw the broad smile on Mia's face.
"Both are boys, but a family member is coming here to care for one of them." She ate without talking, letting Devin mull it over.
"I'd feel better doing a little more searching, love, but if we find no one, then of course, we can adopt him." At Devin's words, Mia jumped up with a squeal.
"I'll go now, let the nurse know that we're very interested," she said, hugging her husband. "I'm so excited!" Devin grinned at her, taking her hand again.
"Let's go together, I'd like to meet him," he replied, and they set off to the nursery, their hearts light and the force light shimmering around them.
Corso was putting things away in the weight room when he saw the droid from the massage area hurrying toward him. "What's wrong?" he asked when the droid was near enough.
"Mister Riggs, nothing is wrong, but Commander Riggs is asleep, and ..." Corso didn't give him time to say more, instead he rushed to the room, and over to where Miriah was lying, covered in a sheet, sound asleep. He smiled at her, then wrapped her up before taking her in his arms. She's too thin, too light, he thought, but hugged her to him tightly.
"Thanks," he said to the droid, and he made his way out and to the upper part of the base. He worried for a moment that he wasn't strong enough yet, but he felt fine, and continued walking, Miriah still in his embrace. When he finally got to the apartment, he was a little winded, but he took her to their bed, depositing her gently before drawing the soft blanket over her. She needs this, he thought, and kicked off his boots to snuggle next to her, content.
