Jyn requests that Cassian stop at the marketplace and buy some warm, winter boots the next day at after work. She is enjoying her gainful employment. Her part of the operation involves creating the processor boards and programming them once the computers were built to make installation easier on-site. Cassian likes to come and watch her work when he's not busy, enjoying the way she bites her bottom lip when she was focused on soldering the tiny filaments and whatnot. He wonders if she makes that face when concentrating on other things.

"How did you learn to do this?" He finally breaks down and asks her one day on the way to lunch.

"Make the processor boards?" She tips her chin up to smile at him as they walk, bumping her shoulder against his arm playfully.

"Yeah."

"I took a job on a ship with a smuggler a few years ago." She grabs her coat from his office, and they head out to a food stall he discovered before he left on his last job.

"His first mate was handy with computers. Taught me stuff." She smiles at the memory. They were good guys, for smugglers. The first mate actually laid a guy out flat in a bar once when he wouldn't take Jyn's "no" for an answer.

Cassian just nods as he points to what he'd like to order. "What are you getting?"

"Oh, the same." He makes it two, and hands over a few credits. They gather their meals, and head back inside the building.

"How long did you work for them?" He finds that the more he learns about Jyn, the more he realizes he doesn't know.

"About eight months."

Cassian is surprised to learn she obtained this proficiency with computer assembly and repair in eight months. Then again, perhaps he shouldn't be as astonished as he is; both of her parents were scientists. Her father was a bona fide genius, it's not a wonder she's quick to learn anything you teach her. Surely some of that intelligence is heritable. In a more perfect world, he figures Jyn would have been able to foster her educational talents as well. He wonders again what she could have become, had she been given the opportunity. All things considered, though, he's very grateful that she's here with him.

"Why did you leave?" She doesn't sound like she disliked this job, so he's curious about her reasons for quitting.

Why indeed, she wonders. Because she was getting too comfortable. Because she wanted to trust them, and she wasn't about to allow that kind of weakness so soon after Saw's betrayal.

"It was time to move on." She answers vaguely, and Cassian comprehends everything she isn't saying aloud. The way he grabs her hand tells her he understands. She rewards him with a smile and a shy peck on the cheek.

"Don't forget to stop and get boots." She nudges his foot gently under his desk.

"I won't." He grins at her around a bite of dumpling, heart swelling. Jyn took to physical contact with him more quickly than he'd anticipated. Honestly, he thought he'd have to tiptoe around, slowly getting her used to the idea of him touching or even hugging her. His heart swells every time she initiates contact or accepts a new boundary. Instead of the slow dance he'd predicted, she freely accepts his touches and frequently initiates forays into new territories without provocation.

Later that night Cassian wakes, and carefully climbs out of bed to go to the lavatory. He stands by the bed for a moment, just watching Jyn sleep, bathed in the slits of moonlight that peeked through the curtains. Her forehead is wrinkled, and she looks worried. This is not the relaxed face of slumber he is starting to get used to seeing. Reaching out two fingers, he carefully smooths her forehead, whispering comforting words of assurance before nature's call becomes too strong.

When he returns, Jyn is sleeping more quietly, so he carefully climbs back between the blankets. Jyn moans, an anguished, clipped sound that halts his movements instantly. That look is back on her face, worried. Anxious. Fearful? Her breathing less even, too, now quick, shallow breaths.

"Jyn." His voice is quiet as he reaches for her. Nightmare. He's told himself for months that he's going to do something about her nightmares one day, and today's the day. One hand rubs her shoulder, gently stroking up and down her arm as he slides closer to her as if his mere proximity could somehow help her fight the demons that haunt her dreams.

"-assian" He hears her murmur as she reaches for him, pulling his torso to her with arms around his neck.

He closes his eyes as his heart squeezes and skips beats. This chest almost hurts as he whispers against her hair, "I'm here." He keeps his voice low and soft. "You're okay. I'm right here."

She makes a small sound as she twists into the pillows, tightening her hold on Cassian's neck. If he wasn't so touched, he'd move and try to find a more comfortable position. His neck is bent at an almost painful angle, but he'll stay here as long as he can. As long as she needs him to. Because it was him she reached for when she was scared in her sleep. It was his name on her lips. His presence calmed her. This moment, here, in an uncomfortable position, balancing awkwardly on one arm to try to keep from crushing her with his weight, he never wants it to end. This means more to him than any words she may never be able to say to him. She's more relaxed around him now than he ever hoped she would be. She lets him kiss her, and returns that affection, but words are difficult for her, he knows.

Cassian slides down and slowly, carefully relaxes against her shoulder, drawing an arm around her torso. He's shocked into stillness again when she makes another sound and burrows into him, rolling on to her side and breaths quickening again. Another nightmare or a continuation of the last one, he's not certain. What he does know is that he needs to do something, so he speaks. Softly at first, barely a whisper, then a bit louder. The lyrical sounds of Festian dripping carefully off of his tongue. She stills again, almost immediately, and it emboldens him. He keeps up his calming utterances, telling her things he'd never dare to say in Basic, making promises he worries she'd resist if he made them when she was conscious. Jyn eventually calms again, breathing evening out and her grip on him loosening a bit. He's often wondered if he should wake her when she's in the throes of a nightmare, but this is a much better method, it seems.

After a while, when Jyn is still relaxed and resting, limbs tangled with his, Cassian allows himself to drift back to sleep. His own dreams, typically turbulent and terrifying, are entirely different tonight. When he wakes in the morning, he can't contain the smile that stretches across his face. The weight of Jyn's body is pressing him into the mattress. At some point during the night he must have rolled onto his back. He either brought Jyn with him, or she crawled onto his chest later. Her head is pillowed on his shoulder, face pressed against his neck, one leg between his, and a small hand resting on his shoulder. He'd never expected this from Jyn, this easy level of physical intimacy. She struck him as someone who'd been hurt so badly by others in her life that she'd be slow to trust him. Slow to reach out for him, allow him to reach for her. Instead he wakes to find her draped around him, snuggled into the warmth of his body. He's done nothing in his life to deserve this, he knows. This kind of happiness is for other men. Better men. Men who haven't ended the lives of countless others and walked away without so much as a word. He runs his fingertips down her spine, savoring the sensation of her body against his.

The first time Jyn suggested that they share a bed he thought he'd pass out from the shock. She told him that she trusted him, and then she'd proven that by allowing him to rest beside her when she is most vulnerable. This, though, this waking to find her near him, on top of him, sleeping peacefully with her face buried in his neck, this is even more meaningful. His fingers ghost down her arm, noticing the softness of her new sleep clothes and the delicate bones of her wrist and hand. Her breath is warm on his skin, leaving a moist spot where it condenses. His chrono will start buzzing any moment now, ruining this for him. There's no way for him to silence it without waking her, the movement would be too sudden and obvious. Instead he closes his eyes and draws in a deep breath, pushing away the memories that keep him up most nights, the endless replay of faces and names. Murderer. Assassin. Saboteur.

"You're a very good man."

She said that to him recently, but she'd change her mind if she ever finds out the truth. He may not be a good man, but he can be good to her. He can be what she needs. If she ever found out the whole truth about him, though, he figures she'd turn tail and run faster than even she ever thought possible. In the quiet stillness of mornings like this one, though, sometimes he can almost forget about the things he's done, the things that turn his stomach and make him hate himself. He can almost just focus on the feel of Jyn. The warmth of her body against his. The softness of her skin under his fingertips. The silken texture of his hair as it tickles his throat. The memory of the way she smiles at him in those rare, unguarded moments. The feel of her soft lips as he slides his own across them. She gasps a little when he kisses her temple, then relaxes as the tension melts from the muscles in her shoulders. Perhaps he can become a good man, a man worthy of the loyalty and affection of this wonderful creature in his arms.

Right on time, his chrono buzzes, alerting him that it is time to rise and ready for the day. He hurries to silence it, but lets his eyes slip closed for a moment. Jyn groans, low and deep, voice heavy with sleep, then she burrows her face further into his neck. He can feel the vibration of the sound she makes into his skin, and the softness of her lips against his neck. He's rarely been granted permission to watch her awaken. Back on Yavin 4 and even on Hoth, she'd flee his quarters in the early morning before he rose. She slept fitfully on the journey here, and he was never even certain that she was fully asleep. Carefully staying still, he grants her a few more moments of peace and slumber, wondering how the rapid beating of his heart hasn't awakened her already.

Still, they do have to get up and prepare for the day. Unless they feel like walking all the way to town, they'll need to be ready for work when Kentaro leaves with the speeder. It's their turn to prepare breakfast, too, but and he needs to get up. He'd rather cut off his own arm than wake her, though, push her off of him. It's a dream he never dared even allow himself to have, this closeness. Domesticity. It's not quite normalcy, as he's never had this sort of contentment in his life before now, but he'd give anything for this to become normal.

The chrono is going to buzz again at any moment, rudely pulling Jyn from her slumber. It's probably kinder to wake her himself.

"Jyn." His voice is a whisper, fingers threading through her silken hair. She's been wearing it down recently, and he keeps forgetting to ask why, but he likes it. His opinion likely doesn't matter, but he's going to enjoy it while it lasts.

"Jyn, honey." He traces the outline of her face with his fingertips, dragging them down her neck to her shoulder, and gives it a squeeze. "We have to get up. It's morning."

Her only response is another groan and buries her face further into the space between his neck and shoulder. He thinks she may have muttered something that sounds suspiciously like "no," but he's not sure.

"Jyn, my..." His chrono interrupts his attempts to wake her gently.

"I'm going to take that thing outside and shoot it." Jyn grumbles plainly as he silences the alarm.

Cassian just smiles and rests his cheek on the top of her head. "Sorry." He apologizes sincerely as he allows himself to brush her hair away from her neck. "But we do need to get up."

"I'm comfortable." She mutters into his shoulder, and his heart squeezes in that fashion he's becoming familiar with where Jyn is concerned. He allows himself a deep breath before responding.

"Me, too." He grants himself the luxury of pressing a kiss to her forehead, lips lingering linger than strictly necessary. "But we..."

"I know." She mutters, lips soft against the skin of his neck, then starts to move off of him. "Sorry."

"For what?" He doesn't release her completely, rolling onto his side and following her movements.

"I didn't mean to...crush you."

"You're too little to crush me." He smiles fondly at her, and fiddles a bit with the edge of the blanket covering her shoulder. "I need to get up and start breakfast." He reminds her, explaining why he needs to rise.

"I'll help." She smiles that wide, unguarded smile that he can't resist returning. "Just don't give me something I can burn."

He drops a kiss to the space between her eyebrows. "You won't burn anything. I believe in you."

"You have too much faith in my abilities." She smirks at him as she pushes herself to a seated position.

"No such thing." He spares another fleeting touch down her arm, delighting in his newfound freedom to do so.

He starts breakfast while Jyn hops in the 'fresher and cleans up for the day. She emerges pink and smiling from the bliss of a real, warm shower, and he can't help himself from backing her against the counter top and kissing her soundly.

"Good morning." She gasps, breathless when he pulls away.

"Good morning." He murmurs against the skin of her throat.

"What are you making, and how do I not mess it up?"

"Chilaquiles." He explains, but knows that won't clear up anything for Jyn, who is unfamiliar with Festian cooking. "Just stir the sauce so it doesn't burn." He points to a pile of fruits he removed from the ice box, and the platter they've been using. "If you could slice those and maybe make some caf. That should do it. I won't be long."

Jyn grabs a spoon and give the red sauce a few stirs, then grabs a knife and starts slicing.

True to his word, Cassian is back in under ten minutes. Barefoot and relaxed, he tries to take over the cooking duties.

"No." Jyn protests. "I want to learn how to make this." She can tell by the way the name of the dish slid off his tongue that this is something he grew up eating. This is his food, his comfort. She wants to lean to do this for him.

Cassian sees Hanakosan shuffling her way into the kitchen, but ignores her presence for a moment to drop a kiss to Jyn's lips again. "Okay." He agrees, lips still against hers. "I'll teach you."

"Good morning." He greets his friend as he straightens up, smiling sheepishly. "Breakfast is almost ready."

Hanako responds only with a peck on his cheek and a one-armed hug for Jyn. "You take your time." She admonishes, and winks at Cassian as she shuffles back out of the small kitchen.

The rest of the week goes smoothly, mostly repeats of the days previous. They switch off breakfast and dinner duties, and Jyn truly does make strides in improving her cooking skills. Hanako is wonderfully patient with her, and gives her tasks she can master, leaving her with a feeling of accomplishment. Cassian introduces her to new ingredients that he finds to make the dishes of his homeland.

"How do you now how to make these?" She asks him one night as they make dinner. He was just a young child when his family died, younger even than she was when she went to live with Saw. Surely he can't just remember these recipes from twenty years ago.

"I found a book of recipes a few years ago." He admits. "And downloaded it onto my datapad. You can read it if you want."

"I'd like that." Her green eyes sparkle, and Cassian has to turn away, admonishing himself. The closer they become, the more she opens up to him and allows herself the comfort he offers, the more he remembers why he doesn't deserve her. It feels wrong, this happiness. This easy, comfortable life he's trying to have. After everything he's done, he can't deserve this. It can't last.

"I'll get if for you after dinner." He utters quietly, feeling the disdain for himself welling up and threatening to spill over.

"Thank you." She's beside him, looking up at him with wide green eyes, open and understanding, as if she can read his mind. "I look forward to it." She reaches up on her toes and presses a quick kiss to his cheek, one hand grabbing his and squeezing it. She stands there, silent for a moment, just looking into his eyes, and he knows that she knows. She knows what he's thinking. He'll never understand how she does it, how they do it, but it's never a secret from her when he starts feeling like this. When the weight and enormity of his past actions in the Rebellion threaten to crush him. She knows, and she grabs his hand or his face, and she searches his eyes, drawing him into her own and drawing him back to her. Grounding him.

"I don't deserve you." He murmurs quietly, breaking the silence.

"No." She agrees, and startles him. "You deserve better, but I'm sticking around until you get tired of me."

"That's never going to happen." He promises, winding his arms around her waist and holding her to him. He was wrong, he realizes. He told Chirrut once that he and the Force have different priorities. If the Force gave him Jyn, then he is going to be a believer for the rest of his life. She is his priority now. A gift that he feels inadequate to receive, but will care for faithfully until his last breath.

"And don't say that about yourself." He's cupping the back of her head, holding it to him, burying her face in that spot in his neck. He wonders if she feels the same about their touches. After twenty years of loneliness and solitude, his skin aches for her. He yearns to reach for her, to brush his fingers against any piece of her he can reach. The feeling of her in his arms, her skin against his, her body next to him; he feels like she's putting pieces of him back together. Every time she reaches for him, initiates contact, kisses him or runs her fingers through his hair, he feels a bit more whole. "You're...you're everything."

He can't find the words to finish the thought properly, and he wanted to say so much more. But they're here, in the kitchen in his friend's home, and Kentaro and Hanako are just a room away. They're probably eavesdropping if he knows Hanako. She took him shopping a few days ago under the guise of having a strapping young man available to carry her bags. She spent most of the time giving him advice and interrogating him about Jyn.

"She's very fond of you." Hanako observes as she picks out vegetables.

"Well, I hope so." He shrugged as a flush crept up from his collar.

"And you are fond of her." It's not a question, and she hands him a few yellow vegetables to add to the basket.

"I am."

"Kentaro tells me you haven't discussed a wedding." She said it offhand, like this is a normal thing to discuss over crates of produce. "Why is that?"

Cassian isn't sure how to respond. There's no point in lying or evading the question. Hanako always knows. She reads him like an open book.

"It just doesn't seem like the time." It's the closest thing to truth he can manage right now.

"You're afraid." She's pointing at him, using a long vegetable to poke him in the chest.

"I guess."

"My boy, that girl loves you." Hanako smiles at him tenderly, remembering the uncertainty that comes with young love and a new relationship. "And you love her."

He gulps, but keeps his face neutral. Impassive.

"Have you told her that, yet?" She's quieter now, softer. More understanding of his reticence.

"No." He admits shamefully. "I don't..."

"Why don't you start there?"

He knows he should. It's cowardly to not, to just keep stringing Jyn along without any sort of real emotion attached to it. He did promise her that he wouldn't leave her, he reminds himself, and that means a lot to her. They're growing closer, both physically and emotionally. He's opened up to her more than he ever has to anyone, and she haltingly reciprocates. It's hard for her, he knows. Force, it's hard for him. But they're getting there, two damaged souls working towards being whole. He doesn't want to scare her, though. A declaration of love, no matter how honest, may send her running.

"She might not want to hear it." He whispers, terrified to voice the fear aloud, lest it lend credence to his concern.

"You'll know when the time is right." She hands him a handful of leafy green vegetables and smiles at him. "Trust your instincts. You've always had good instincts."

Jyn wants to go for a hike the next morning. They both have the day off, but Cassian is wary. They're unfamiliar with the area, and he hasn't hiked since his most recent leg injury. It's doesn't really hurt anymore, but it's more activity than he's attempted in a while.

"You got your boots, right?" Jyn is buzzing around him, ecstatic at the possibility of exercise and freedom. She's never had the opportunity to just enjoy the scenery, and the path Hanako showed her when Cassian was away has been calling to her.

"I have them." He nods, but is still unsure this is a good idea. He has no concept of where they're headed.

"Here's a locator to keep you on the path." Kentaro overhears them, and hands Jyn a small position device. "I programmed it with the destination already. You want to see the valley, right?"

"Yes." Jyn's face lights up, and Cassian knows he can't deny her this. They won't get lost, he has a com he can use to call Kentaro if they need assistance. There's no real danger, and he's not sure why he's so anxious about this idea.

"Then we should go." He announces, and is instantly relieved that he's made the right decision when he see's the elation on Jyn's face. He could never deny her this, he realizes. Not when agreeing to this hike makes her eyes light up and sparkle like they are right now.

The day is perfect for a walk, he realizes gratefully as they set out. Hanako packed them a few snacks and a thermos of hot tea, and he's carrying them in a pack on his back. Jyn is forcing herself to slow and walk beside him, but her excitement is contagious, and even he is feeling the anticipation of the view that Hanako promised is in store for them.

They walk through the first thatch of trees, the tall ones that Jyn noticed when they arrived. The silence is almost eerie, but Jyn fills it with her memories of the time she an Hanako walked this way. She'd wanted to bring Cassian that very day to see the trees. Cassian, for his part, is enjoying the excursion. In truth, his leg isn't bothering him as much as he thought it might. That, coupled with the way Jyn's eyes glisten like the sun hitting the pure, white snow, leave him feeling happier than he has been in years.

"I'm not sure exactly how far it is." Jyn apologizes, somehow knowing that he wasn't quite as enthusiastic about this outing as was she. "We turned back here." She's still touched by that fact, that Hanako demanded they turn back and go buy Jyn proper winter footwear when she realized how cold her feet were. She glances at her new boots, and then at Cassian's, and smiles. "Are you warm enough?"

"I'm plenty warm." He smiles at her, removing a glove and tucking some stray hair back into her hat. "And I'm having a nice time."

Jyn grabs his ungloved hand in hers, and gives it a squeeze. He can't help himself, and he stills her by pulling on her hand and presses his lips to hers.

"You're beautiful." He breaths reverently as he pulls away, still mesmerized by the look of joy on her face and the sparkle if her big, green eyes.

Jyn just blushes and looks away uncomfortably at his declaration, so he gently moves her face to look up at him with a finger under her chin. "You are. Trust me."

She tries to look away again, but he keeps her there, and drops another kiss to her lips. "Believe me." He pleads, lips still against hers. "You're beautiful." He wants to ask her if he's ever lied to her before, but knows that he has. He lied to her on Eadu. He lied to her about the purpose of this whole trip.

Jyn is blushing furiously, and desperately trying to look away from Cassian's intense brown eyes. She's been called many things in her lifetime, but beautiful has never been one of them. Annoying. Worthless. Troublesome. Criminal. She's used to those attributes. Only Cassian has ever cared to call her beautiful, to look at her like it's true, like he means it.

"You're..." She searches for a word that will end this conversation. "Nice." She finishes lamely, defeated.

"I'm honest." He presses, but lets her turn from him. "And I'm right." He can't help but add as she turns red and looks down at her boots. Her lips are pursed, and he knows he shouldn't continue. She doesn't have to believe him today, he reasons. He'll just keep repeating it until she does. He finally found the thing that makes her blush the way he does when she tells him he's a good man, a good person. Cassian wonders what else will make her flush like that. What other things does she not believe about herself? He'll find them, and he'll repeat them until she knows. Until she understands exactly who he sees when he looks at her.

The hike isn't that long, just over a standard hour, and they arrive well before noon. The sunlight is angled just so, and the entire valley is a spectacle of glittering white. As promised, the four mountain peeks rise like monoliths around the valley, white capped and awe-inspiring. The river cutting through the bottom of the valley hasn't frozen yet, and is an icy blue, almost turquoise. He can hear the rushing of the water in the quiet, even from this elevation above the valley floor. Jyn is brushing snow off of what she hopes will be a flat rock. She's completely relaxed, her discomfort from earlier long forgotten. Cassian moves to join her and removes the bag from his back.

"Here." He spreads out a blanket over the rock to protect them.

"Look!" Jyn breaths as she points to a large bird of prey soaring on a thermal above the river. "Do you know what kind it is?"

He smiles at her assumption that he knows everything about this area. She has full faith in him, he realizes. Trust. "No idea." He answers honestly. "But we can look it up when we get back." He's never had any interest in birds, but if Jyn wants to know, then he'll find every book there is on the subject for her. He wishes he'd brought his quadnocs so she could inspect it more closely. He tucks this bit of information away for later; Jyn likes birds.

"I bet it's really beautiful here at sunrise." She mentions as he hands her a package of lunch. "Or sunset."

"We can find out." He promises with a smile. "But lets wait until it gets warmer to go hiking in the dark." Just in case they get lost, he'd like to not lose a toe to hypothermia. Or worse, yet, lose Jyn.

"Deal." She bites into her lunch distractedly and keeps her eyes on the spectacle below. She eats quietly, watching the valley for more signs of life. He hears her gasp, and watches her eyes light up as she spies something else, but has to force himself to tear his own eyes away from her face to see what she's found.

"Is that some sort of...what is that?" Lah'mu didn't have much in the way of large wildlife, and she's rarely encountered anything in nature like this. The beast in question appears large from this distance. Shaggy fur covers most of it's body, and there are large, curled horns growing out of the top of it's head. Four legs, like a bantha, but the resemblance ends there. Far smaller than a bantha, and much more majestic.

"I'm not much of a biologist." Cassian admits. "Why don't we get you some books on local wildlife?" He brings voice to his earlier idea.

"I'd like that." She flashes him that smile again, the one that makes his chest feel like it's going to explode.

They watch the animal in silence, Jyn gasping quietly when a smaller version appears from the forest. Clearly it's a baby version of the other, larger animal.

"I've never seen anything like this." Jyn breaths.

Cassian hasn't, either, but he's referring to Jyn, breathless and elated at the spectacle unfolding before her eyes. This reminds him of her expression when they flew into the area from Capital City. She's awed by the beauty of this place, and she's tucked herself beside him, under his arm. She hums quietly every time he presses a kiss to her temple or her cheek, pink and flushed from the cold.

This is the perfect day Cassian has been searching for, and he can't believe he didn't want to come. He hadn't wanted to trudge through the snow and ice for nothing. He'll never deny her a walk in nature again, he realizes, if it ends with her smiling like this. She's magnificent, relaxed and awestruck by the beauty of the valley. There's a small, red building across the valley halfway up the tallest mountain. Strings of multicolored flags flutter in the breeze all around it.

"Is that a temple?" She's pointing across the valley at the building he was just observing.

"That's my guess, but I'm not an expert on this planet."

"I love it here." Jyn presses closer to him almost unconsciously, and rests her hand on his leg.

"Here." He hands her the thermos of tea, still hot, but the perfect temperature for sipping.

She takes a sip, eyes closing as she savors the warmth. "Thanks. That's really good."

He hasn't been paying attention to the sky, but clouds must have blown in while they were sitting on the rock and enjoying their picnic. A few fat snowflakes flutter down, much to Jyn' delight. Cassian's first instinct is to pack up and head back, lest she get cold, but Jyn makes no move to leave.

"It's snowing!" She's never been happy about snow before, but the backdrop of the wide valley, now bathed in sparkling snowfall makes her giggle.

Cassian has been mostly quiet during this outing, but he can't help himself. "It used to snow like this back home. On Fest."

He has her undivided attention now, green eyes watching his own patiently.

"My brother and sisters and I used to play in the forest. We built snow forts and had snowball fights. Then my mother would fix us something warm and sit us by the fireplace." He smiles at the memory of a simpler time. "It was never this pretty." He amends. "But it was home."

"It snowed on Lah'mu in the winter." Jyn adds, understanding his need to have the focus off of him for a moment. "But we lived near the coast. It never stayed long, but it was bitterly cold in the winter. Mama wouldn't let me play outside for months, but I'd sneak off with Papa when he went to fix the processors or survey the fields with the droids. Once it snowed a lot, and we went sledding. Papa made sleds out of something, and we climbed up the mountain behind the house and went sledding down." That was one of the last purely fun memories she has of her parents. Papa sled down a few times, and ended up falling off of his sled and rolling down the hill, snow filling his jacket. Jyn, fearless from birth, climbed all the way to the top of the mountain and slid to the bottom, laughing the entire way.

"It was probably just a hill, but it seemed high at the time." She laughs now. "It was so much fun."

"We could probably make some sleds." Cassian offers, willing to do anything to make her smile again.

"If you want." She knows that Cassian's relationship with snow isn't as pleasant as her own. She remembers happy times with her parents, but she suspects that he associates it with loss. She'd never have dragged him out here today if she'd understood the enormity of what this frozen precipitation means to him.

They sit through the flurry, and Jyn grabs his arm. "Look!" She breaths, pointing to a small, white animal a few yards away. Her joy at these small things makes Cassian wonder how deprived of simple pleasures her life has been. Probably about like your own, he reminds himself. Child soldiers like the two of them never had time to sit in nature and enjoy wildlife and trees. Her delight in this simple morning is doing strange things to his insides.

"Cassian!" She breaths again, grabbing his hand in hers as more small animals join the first one.

"Marry me." He blurts out without thinking, then winces as the magnitude of his words penetrate his brain. As if she would marry him. Like he deserves her.

"What?" Jyn's head has whipped around to face him before he can take back the words.

No turning back, he figures. "Marry me." It's not the most romantic of proposals, and he hasn't planned anything. Kriff, he's never even told her he loves her. He's been meaning to do that.

"Do you mean it?" She looks skeptical, and Cassian can think of a dozen reasons why she'd say no to him today.

"I do." He might as well go all in. He's already this deep.

"Okay." She breaths, eyes glittering like the snow. "Okay."

"Really?" He can't believe his luck.

"Yes, really." She's smiling at him, almost laughing.

"Jyn." He breaths, almost a prayer, as he reaches for her, kissing her for all he's worth, hoping that she'll understand the words he hasn't said, yet. She responds eagerly, and draws him down to the blanket on top of her. It's not the most comfortable position, and not the most conventional of proposals, so he figures it doesn't matter. He's here with her now, in this beautiful place. They can build a life together, leaving behind the pain and loneliness of their pasts. But there's one more thing she needs to know.

"Jyn." He breaths, his lips trailing kisses across her jaw.

"Mmm." Is her breathy response.

"I love you."

He states it so earnestly that she has no response. Ordinarily she'd run, push him off her and flee. But it's Cassian, and she trusts him. And she just agreed to marry him. Somehow, it never occurred to her that he might love her. It's a foreign feeling to her now, after all this time. No one has said those words to her since her Papa on that fateful day back on Lah'mu. She honestly figured she'd never hear them again from anyone. And now... Cassian...this wonderful man. This man who comes back for her. Who saves her. Who needed to leave the Rebellion, and brought her with him has just said those three words aloud. Someone loves her.

"Cassian." She begins, but he cuts her off.

"You don't have to say anything." He's kissing the side of her mouth, lips cold from the air. "I just wanted you to know."

"Cassian." She tries again, but isn't sure she can form the words.

"Don't." He covers her mouth with his own, remembering the way she said his name in her sleep and reached for him. They way his voice soothed her in the throes of a nightmare. "Don't say anything." She may never be able to say the words, and he understands why. But she needs to know.

"I just want you to know. That I love you." It's easier to say the second time, he realizes, and the way she's smiling at him tells him that he made the right decision.

"Are we really doing this?" She asks, acquiescing to his request that she not respond.

"If you want to." He slides off of her, and props himself up on one elbow, tracing the lines of her face with careful fingertips. "Whenever you want to." He's in no rush. He's hers, and he's fairly certain she feels the same way about him.

"We don't do anything in order." She nudges him with a grin. First he asked her to stay and live with him. Then he proposes marriage. Only after all of that does he work up the courage to tell her he loves her.

"I guess we don't." He's worked his fingers under her hat, and is stroking her silken hair. "Conventional is overrated."

"I'm pretty good at rebelling." She grins at him.

"We've been rebels our whole lives." He agrees, dropping a kiss to the pink tip of her nose. "Why stop now?"

"You know I'm a pain in the ass, right?" Jyn asks, and he hears just enough honesty in her voice to make him angry at whoever told her that.

"You're never a pain." He's nuzzling his face into the space where her scarf has loosened. "You're stubborn, and I love that about you." It is easier, he realizes.

"Well," She takes a deep breath. "I love that...you." There's no more to that sentence, and she stutters to get it out.

Cassian, always able to understand what Jyn means when she can't find the words, just freezes, lips still pressed against the skin just below her earlobe.

"You...?"

"I said it." She seems proud of herself. "I said I love you." He can feel her pulse beating wildly in the artery in her neck, and understands what an achievement this is for her.

"Jyn, I..." He's on top of her again, worshiping her with his mouth, his lips. Pressing her into the blanket-covered rock. Damn cold and snow, there are flakes falling again. If it was warmer, he'd make love to her right here on this outcropping. "Gods, I love you." He breaths it like a mantra against what little skin she doesn't have bundled against the elements. She's meeting him eagerly, kiss for kiss, pushing up against him as his need grows more evident. He'll never deserve her, the thinks, but he'll die a happy man if he can hear those words just one more time.

"In a few days we'll have our own home." She murmurs, teeth nibbling gently on his earlobe, and drawing out a long moan from him.

"Yeah." A few days has never seemed so far away.

A/N: Seriously wicked writers block this week. BUT, I persevered. This got pretty long for a story that had 156 words for most of the week because I couldn't think of a single thing to say. And yeah, he made chilaquiles. Because Diego Luna said they're Cassian's specialty, and I'm totally willing to believe him.

Many heartfelt thanks to my lovely reviewers, Christmas 95, tigersmeleth, GrumpyCat503 (Grumpy is seriously my spirit animal, btw. Love the handle), Kathea, Capsassian, Claire de Blanche, EggDupont, xbecbebex, lindcita, Maria de Sanctos, Icbacteria, TortoisetheStoryteller (are you surprised things are working out between them? I promised a fix it, and I hate sad endings), engingeerwenlock, Guest, Moniecat, and as always, my stalwart supporter Mademoiselle le Chat.