Luke jolted awake, his reflexes stumbling to catch up as he tried to kick his feet out of the covers and reach for his commlink at the same time.

Dyrk stirred on the other side of the bed. "Who is it?"

"Unknown origin." After a moment of hesitation, Luke decided to take it. He left the bedroom so he wouldn't disturb Dyrk and nearly dropped the commlink when he found himself facing his sister and Boba Fett. "Leia?" He gave his head a quick shake, half-convinced he was dreaming. "Where are you?"

"Some little planet called Dubrillion? Anyway, that's not important. Listen, I need you to have Dyrk run a full background check on the names Su'siat Do and Su'siat Do Kin. I think they're the same person but it could also be a father and son. Also the Rinto organization. You might need a clearance to check Imperial records, but Dyrk can request that from-"

"Wait a minute." Luke was no closer to understanding. "If you need Dyrk do all of this, why didn't you call him?"

"I didn't want to wake him."

"But-"

"Wake me for what?" Dyrk walked out of the bedroom wearing nothing but his undershorts, blinking sleepily. "What…" he pointed at the projection. "That's not supposed to happen."

As confused as they both were, it paled in comparison to Leia, who was literally open-mouthed and staring. Luke remembered too late that his sister was completely unaware of the connection between them. "What-" she sputtered. "You and Dyrk? When-" She turned to look at her husband, and her shock turned to outrage. "You knew? How long have you known?"

Fett considered that a moment. "How old is Jonah now?"

"WHAT?"

"That was not the right answer," Dyrk said, shaking his head. "I can't watch this. When she's done killing him, find out how they got off Kyd's island."

"Yeah…" Luke cleared his throat. "I thought you two were supposed to be spending a week on a remote island with no communication devices."

"Funny story," Fett started to answer, but Leia put her hand on his arm.

"No. Don't tell him. Apparently we're not the kind of family who talks about our personal lives."

"It's not...we haven't been together this whole time," Luke gestured helplessly as he tried to explain. "We had a brief thing around the time Jonah was born and then we broke up. We just sort of recently...reconnected."

His sister was clearly unconvinced. "Well, you have fun reconnecting, and remember to look up those names. You can comm me back at this ID."

"Wait." Luke still wasn't sure what was happening. "You're not going...back to Coruscant?"

"When I'm finished here. I was told you have everything under control. Is that true?"

"Yeah. Yes. The story is that you're on medical leave."

Dyrk leaned over Luke's shoulder. "Pregnant with triplets is what some of the 'bloids are saying. And your husband may not be the father."

"Oh, good. I assume Vice Chair Mallo is running the senate?"

"She's got them well in hand," Dyrk affirmed. "But what's with the investigation? Did you manage to stumble across a sentient rights violation on a deserted island?"

"Potentially, yes." Her expression turned grim. "I just...I'd like to see this through." A pause. "Are the kids okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine."

"You don't have to tell them anything yet. Let them think we're still where they left us. And run those names as soon as you can."

"We'll get right on it," Luke promised.

She ended the transmission. Luke stood there for a moment, still trying to put it all together.

"They seem like they're getting along?" Dyrk offered. "That's a good sign, right?"

"Or a really, really bad one? I don't kriffing know." Luke sighed.

The Mandalorian put his arms around his shoulders and kissed the side of his head. "No sense losing sleep over it, Jedi. Come back to bed."

Port Aunoc was a small seaside town, where it could be reasonably assumed that you were there to fish or to buy fish. There were two cantinas and only one rented out rooms, so that was where they ended up.

"I can't believe you never told me," Leia was still glaring at him as she took a seat at the bar.

Fett tapped on the surface to draw the bartender's attention and sat down next to her. "It never came up."

Leia rolled her eyes and then turned to smile at the young Quarren who came to take their order. "Something very strong," she told her. " Tihaar, if you've got it."

"Uh, I'll check." She looked at Fett. "And for you, sir?"

"The same."

The bartender vanished into the storeroom, and Leia raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you sure you want to do that? How many times in your life have you actually had tihaar?"

He shrugged. "Don't know that I ever have."

"Oh, you're in for a treat." Leia shook her head. "So when exactly did the whole thing start? Dyrk wasn't part of the guard for very long."

"I don't know when it started. A few months after we were married Luke stayed at your house in Keldabe and Dyrk was with him. I saw them while reviewing the security feeds."

"And when you say you saw them-"

"No. Nothing like that."

The bartender returned, gingerly carrying a dusty bottle by the neck. She held it out for their approval. The label showed a pink-cheeked Mandalorian woman roasting plums over a fire. "We'll take that, and two glasses," Leia told her.

She thunked it down on the bar and wiped her three-fingered hand off on her apron before setting two small glasses beside it.

"Hey, settle a bet," Fett said. "Do you think my friend here looks like the new chancellor?" He ignored Leia's started look and watched the Quarren instead. She looked at Leia and her face tentacles wriggled with concentration.

"What's the chancellor look like?"

"Never mind." He picked up the bottle and twisted off the seal.

The bartender nodded and moved moved away.

"What was that?" Leia inquired.

"Just testing something." He filled only the bottom of his glass the way he'd seen people do it on Mandalore and without hesitating, tipped the entire contents into his mouth. He expected it to burn, and it burned. It nearly choked him. But once it was down the heat settled pleasantly into the back of his throat, and he tasted a hint of ripe fruit.

Leia was watching him a bemused expression. "You're supposed to pour one for me too. And you always toast the first drink."

He filled her glass and refilled his own. "Why do you toast the first drink?"

"For luck, I guess." She lifted her glass. "To the Port Aanoc Coastal Patrol." They both drank. The burn was just as bad the second time, but the finish was sweeter.

"I never thought I'd be one behind drinking with you," she murmured. "Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time we drank together, or even went to a bar."

"We met in a bar."

"We met in a salvage shop. You lured me to the bar."

"And you told me a terrible joke with no punchline." He poured again.

"Boba." She put her hand over his as he reached for his glass. "If you keep that up, you're going to get very drunk, very quickly."

"Good." The third one was maybe a tiny bit easier. Or maybe his esophagus had gone numb from the shock.

Leia waved at the bartender. "Can we get some food over here?"

"Biscuits?"

"That's fine."

The alcohol was beginning to settle into his bloodstream now. It felt like the steam from a hot shower. Warm and wet and comforting.

The bartender returned with a basket of small dense biscuits, heavily salted. It occurred to Fett that he was actually very hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since that morning, when they had a few protein bars at the Coastal Guard headquarters. He took two biscuits and pushed the basket towards Leia.

"So why the sudden determination to get drunk?" She asked as she took one.

"Why not? We can't do anything until Dyrk runs the background on the island's former owner. No one here knows who we are and the people who do know don't know where we are. We're the safest we've ever been."

She toyed with her glass. "I thought maybe it had something to do with the question I asked you this morning before we left the guardhouse." She looked up, her eyes bright and sharp.

Damn it.

He took his time munching down his second biscuit, and poured himself another drink. Maybe he'd drink this one a bit more slowly. "Last month I got a priority transmission from Unatarlo, the Prime Minister of Montest Consortium. He said it was a delicate matter, and he needed to speak to me personally. A paid consultation. So I went." He grimaced a little, remembering. "They greeted me like a godsdamn head of state. Everything formal. Dinner, music, live entertainment. I reminded Unatarlo that this wasn't a social call, and he ushered me into his office. Turns out he didn't need a bounty hunter, he needed a lobbyist."

Understanding dawned on her face. "Oh. Because of the weapons sanction."

"Probably. I didn't stay for the full presentation. I told Unatarlo that I expected to be paid for my time and I left. The next morning he sent double my fee."

"Oh," she said quietly.

"You asked me this morning why I didn't want you to be the chancellor. That's one reason why."

"You never had that happen while I was in the senate?"

"There are easier and cheaper ways to buy a senator." In spite of his intentions to slow down, he downed his fourth glass of tihaar and hoped the warmth it brought could somehow soften his words. "We've always been able to balance it. Your life. My life. But I can't balance this. To support you, I would have to retire. Stay on Mandalore and do my duty as Mand'alor, or stay in the chancellor's residence on Coruscant and hope that you occasionally need my help."

"Truly a choice between one hell or another," Leia commented drily.

"I would never ask you to give up your work. You're too good at it." He leaned toward her, his voice low. "You should be chancellor, empress and queen of the godsdamn galaxy."

"You should eat another biscuit."

He shrugged and hooked his finger around the basket.

"So why didn't you say anything before? After Wayland, for example, when I first told you about the nomination."

He took a biscuit from the basket, but his fingers closed around it and it crumbled.

"Boba?"

"There was a moment, when C'baoth was in my head...I thought you wanted me to kill myself."

Leia's face drained of color. "What?"

"I know that's not-" He dropped the ruined biscuit on the bar and brushed the crumbs off his fingers. "I've always thought that someday I would say the wrong thing, or do the wrong thing, and you would leave me. C'baoth found that, and he twisted it. He made me believe that you were done with me. I wasn't useful to you anymore. I couldn't help you. I let Shysa-"

"Don't-"

"I know. Not a competition. But that's what he made me think. What I almost believed." He let his fingers trail over the scarred surface of the bar, sweeping crumbs into a nice, neat pile. One crumb slipped into a deeper crack, and he bent his head closer to work it out with his thumbnail.

"But you didn't believe it," Leia said. "Because I asked you go after Oktan, and you said no." She sat up a little. "Were you testing me?"

He picked up one of the large crumbs and put it in his mouth. The salt melted on his tongue. "These are good," he said. "They work. I feel pretty sober."

"You're nowhere close to 'pretty sober.'" She rested her elbow on the bar and propped her chin on it. "But apparently you can still dodge questions."

The corners of his mouth pulled upward as he continued to meticulously gather the scattered biscuit crumbs. Not because it was funny, but because she knew him so well. "I said no," he agreed. "And you looked down at me, and it was like C'baoth was in my head again, only worse. Because it wasn't him, it was you. I remember thinking, 'she could kill me right now.' And I didn't hate the idea. Better than...living like that." He reached for the bottle, but it clinked clumsily against the glass when he tried to pour. Fierfek. His hand was unsteady. He put the bottle down.

Leia took the glass in front of him and tossed it back with a flick of her wrist. She looked...sad. What had he said? He couldn't remember exactly. "You're still one behind," he told her.

"That's okay. You win." She put the glass back, and then she touched his hand, her fingers curling around his. "I'm really sorry."

"For what?"

"For making you feel...like that. I-" She looked at him a moment and then squeezed his hand. "We'll talk about it in the morning. After you've stopped throwing up."

"I'm not going to throw up. I feel fine." He didn't want her to be sad. She should be happy, like the woman roasting plums on the bottle's label. "How do you open a door on Kashyyyk?"

"What?"

"You need a woo-key."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"See that's a joke with a punchline. That's how it works."

But Leia didn't laugh. Instead she leaned over and kissed him.