Okay I know it's been a year or so i am so sorry I didn't post the chapters even though I finished it already... BUT uh i hope you enjoy the chapter!

After a couple silent hours of sorting out what they have and taking care of themselves, Mando and Cara finally sit in the cockpit to do some final checks. As time pushes on Cara can see that her friend is having a harder and harder time thinking about his situation and everything that happened over the past week.

"So, " Cara breaks the comfortable silence between them. "What's the plan, Mando? Or should I say, your highness?" She gives her signature smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't call me that-" he says half-serious and half-jokingly

"But doesn't that make you the king of Mandalore?" she points over to the dark saber, "pretty sure your royalty now."

This actually seems to stump the man a bit. "It's called Mand'alor, and no thanks."

"Come on, not even ml' lord or king mando?" she gives a playful shove to his shoulder, "and technically you rule over all Mandalorians now right? So that's a whole list of new allies you could talk with. Who knows, you can have a comfortable life in a palace somewhere."

There's a bitter tone in his voice, "You know I don't want that."

"I know, but just sayin', your highness," She leans back in her chair, clearly enjoying watching Mando squirm at being called your highness.

Flustered, he can't get over being called royalty after being just a foundling for so long. "Stop- Just-"

"Come on, you sure you don't want me to call you something else?"

He pauses for a moment, thinking for a bit. "Call me Din."

"What?" Shocked, she didn't expect him to say that.

"Nothing." He turns his chair away from her, facing the front of the ship instead.

"Wait, do you want me to call you Din?" Confused, she finally takes the whole weight of what he said.

"You missed your chance Dune, Mando it is." Crossing his arms, he mocks her, buying into the playful atmosphere.

"Come on, you can't just say that I can and then take it away so quick"

"Or can I? I thought I was Mandalore." His helmet tilts to the side ever so slightly, and Cara can swear that she can see the smirk on his face.

"Sure," She gives an over-exaggerated eye-roll. "so what's your first command as Mandalore?"

"Second. Don't call me 'your highness' is the first."

"Fine, second."

"Hmm," He thinks about it for a moment, "How long did you say that you would be gone? From your job as a marshal?"

"Two weeks."

"Okay," he states confidently, "then how about we head to Tatooine"

"Tatooine," she pauses, "Huh. That was quick. Why?"

"Plenty of jobs. Off the radar. Perfect for our situation"

Despite all of the chaos that has been happening for the past week, he longs to get back to a routine that he knows. A part of him wants to go back to his old routine, so he checks a few more stats on the control panel just for the effect. His head tilts back, not to check on Cara, but because of his muscle memory of constantly checking on Grogu. The fact that his body did that without his command only stabs another knife through his heart. Even his muscle memory remembers the kid. Everything seems to be a reminder of Grogu, everything constantly slamming him down, using his own emotions against him. But he has to remind himself that he's in a new ship, has a new passenger, has a new title, new responsibilities, and must find a new routine. Cara watches as he does all of these pointless motions, and she can tell that he's falling back to thinking about the kid already.

"... Your not going to let yourself have a break aren't you" Her voice almost disappointed.

"I'm not," is the only thing that he could say, she predicted his thoughts before he even thought about it.

"Look, maybe we need to talk about-"

"No, I don't." His tone sounds harsher than expected, but he leaves it. He has a bad feeling about what she's about to say.

"You didn't let me finish,"

"Well, I can tell it's something I don't want anything to do with already" At this point, he knows what she's going to ask about, and something inside him shuts down at the thought of talking about feelings.

"The kid, Mando."

His figure stiff, he doesn't respond to her. He saw this coming but that doesn't make the truth harder to face.

"Yes you need time, but you also need to stop bottling up your feelings. I can't just watch as a week goes by and I've done nothing to help you." She's almost pleading, almost talking as if she needed to talk to him more than he did to her.

"..."

"Mando, listen to me. I can't just leave you here, alone. Without anyone to talk to- I want to lessen the blow as much as I can. So please, just talk and we'll try to sort some things out while I'm here, or at least think about it..."

What she said is true, and both of them could benefit from talking about it. But all of this seems too early, and he's tired of breaking so many rules. Mando just wants to play it safe for a while.

"Mando-" Her voice trails off, talking to him seems like a lost cause. At least assuming that he's already shut down, he won't open up for a while.

"I miss him." Unexpectedly, His voice trembles through the modulator, something that he didn't know that he was doing. Taking a shaky breath, he tries to say something else but nothing forms.

Now it was Cara's turn to be speechless, she didn't expect him to actually open up to her so soon.

He turns to face the obvious, maybe saying it out loud would actually help. He was desperate at this point. "He was my adi'ka, and now he's safe with the Jedi" His words voice becoming even more unstable, finally his voice croaks out "I- I didn't know I would hurt this much, I thought I could be strong-"

Cara cuts him off by wrapping him in a warm embrace, although they weren't very big fans of hugs she knew that it was the right thing to do. The structure holding back Mando's feelings crumbled to the ground. He didn't want to cry in front of anyone because he's so used to grieving alone. But this time was different, and he had someone that he could rely on and she felt the loss too. It only touches Mando even further and finally lets himself cry, without trying to hold back. The wet spot growing on his shoulder is the only indication that Cara was crying too, and he hugs her back to let her know that he's also there to support her. They both sit there, trying to rid themselves of as many tears as possible.

Through the intermittent sniffles, Cara finally reassures him. "Don't worry Mando, you'll see the kid again, I'm sure of it"

Authors note: okay low key this chapter was kinda weird but oh well the other chapters make up for it