The Patron Saint of Lost Causes

Chapter 5


For the next few mornings, Rose decided to skip out on questioning Hux straight away, offering to help with repairs instead. It was her actual job, after all, and she was beginning to feel she was neglecting it.

And… she needed space. Time to think. Engines didn't talk back or make her question the boundaries of her own compassion. They didn't unnerve her or push past her defenses. The gears and guts of starships were easier to wrap her head around, and she was grateful for the hours of diversion they'd provided.

Despite this little pep-talk, and the determination she'd seen staring back at her in the mirror that morning, her thoughts did tend to wander.

Elbows-deep in an engine compartment found her replaying the most recent conversation she'd had with Hux for what must have been the tenth time since that tense, emotional evening. The contrast between the looks he'd given her; the dancing mirth while teasing her about tea and then the naked agony as she raked his grief between them.

She knew she'd been peeling him apart, taking hold of the bits he let slip and flaying him open along the lines of his pain. She was enthralled by it, by him, which also made her feel a little sorry for what she'd done. It certainly wasn't fun for him, but she found a strange satisfaction in taking the destruction he'd caused and making him look at it.

It was cruel, wasn't it? Vindictive? Did it make her a bad person? Or was she simply allowing him to see her side of the coin?

Still, she couldn't help herself; he was endlessly fascinating, like some alien starship she'd been given, which she could sink her fingers in just to see how it all ticked. Illuminating and addictive.

She was losing it, wasn't she?

"Uh, Lieutenant General? Ma'am?"

A voice, young, drew her out of her musings. Using part of the engine compartment as leverage, Rose pivoted around to see one of the younger engineers.

"Yes?"

He looked nervous. "I was told you could help me with some shield recirculators that need tweaking?"

Couldn't he see she was up to her ears in engine grease? "Who told you that?"

"Commander D'Acy thought you'd have a little extra time."

Rose tried hard not to roll her eyes. Since when?

"What time is it now?"

The engineer, a kid really, looked at his chronometer. "Almost noon, ma'am."

Damn it, Rose thought. She was supposed to be working on servos already. Not to mention, Poe had recently told her that they were taking a real look at Hux's suggestion about the shipyards above Fondor, and that she needed to get a bit more info out of him as soon as possible.

"I'll take a look at it a little later, alright? What's it for, anyway?"

"The Commander said she wants shield frequencies coordinated between all the new squadrons."

"New squadrons?"

"The— uh— new allied ships that came back from Exogol?"

That's right. Rose remembered now. They had quite an array of different starfighter classes now to contend with. D'Acy must have been gearing up for another that coordinated attack, probably the one Poe'd mentioned; capitalize on their recent victory and hit what remained of the Order before they could regroup.

"Tell the Commander I'll have some time later this afternoon or evening." She didn't need sleep, right?

The kid gave her a sloppy salute before rushing back off to another part of the hanger bay.

Extracting herself from the starship, she shelved the rebuild for the moment, using the rag tied onto her belt to wipe the grease from her hands and arms. She had to get working on those servos or the X-wings were going to be completely useless.

And she'd have to speak with Hux too…

She only felt a little guilty that she kind of enjoyed their conversations; the back-and-forth. She felt more guilty about wanting to ignore her other work in leu of interviewing with him again.

"I can't just ignore these…" she muttered, moving to the crate full of servos over on the workbench.

She could assign someone else to question Hux. She'd had a few of her trusted subordinates take him food when she was busy, but they'd told her he wouldn't even acknowledge them. Would he even consider talking to anyone else? She winced. Maybe that was a little too self-aggrandizing. She did feel like she was making progress with him. He just required constant attention and a whole load of patience.

Too bad she couldn't clone herself to do her engineering work and talk to Hux.

A wonderous expression came over her face.

But… what if she didn't have to choose?

Within the hour, she was back at his cell, making Hux jump as she dropped her crate onto the small warden's table, dragging it over from the far end of the hallway to in front of his chamber. She tried to ignore the guilty excitement of speaking with him again.

At all the commotion, she heard him sigh and grumble. "What fresh hell am I being subjected to now?"

"My other job. I can't clone myself, can I?" She dumped the components out on the table, dropping the crate to the floor.

"I… suppose not?" His face scrunched in confusion. He tried to lean out from where he sat to see what she was doing, but he was rather far back from bars. "Will you to be asking me any questions today, or have you simply come to aggravate the monotony of my current situation?"

She snorted, turning the servo over in her hand. "Maybe. Why? Bored?"

"Immensely," he admitted, tapping the toe of his boot.

"You can't be given a datapad, you know that."

He grunted in accent, drumming his fingers on his thigh and absently scratching at his chin, the short stubble more than a little bit irritating. Honestly, he just wanted something to do. And… he enjoyed their banter. It was a relief, after constant solitude, to speak with someone. A more preferable someone.

She took the multi-spanner from her belt and went to work tightening up a few loose brackets. "Actually, I did want to ask a few more questions about the Order's build sites near Fondor." She connected her datapad to the component to adjust some of the internal settings.

"Forgo your inquires for now and I'll offer my assistance instead." His voice was temperate and close, making her jump in surprise. Rose whipped her head around in his direction and saw that he'd crept toward the bars with silent footfalls. He was quite good at that, she thought. Hands clasped behind his back, he stared at the component in her hand, gaze flicking up to lock with her's; intense.

She eyed him. "Tempting offer…" He did look miserably bored, and she could have this done in half the time… "Do you know how to calibrate servos?"

"Be more precise," he clipped, almost admonishing. His arms dropped to his sides. "Those are S-foil servos. For X-wing actuators."

She blinked at him in surprise. "Yes, they are. How did you know?"

"I was always more technically inclined than otherwise." He tried to pull on the cuffs of his gloves, only to realize that he wasn't wearing any. She stifled a smile. He frowned. "I'm quite capable of programing, let alone tightening screws."

She looked at the table, then back at him. "I said no datapad."

"Fine," he ground out, losing a bit of his patience. "I'll use the damned multi-spanner, you use the datapad."

Rose snorted, tweaking another bracket. "Not with that attitude."

A growl forced its way out of his chest. She laughed, a closed-mouth chuckle at his fuming. He was so wound up! But, he had so far been a rather cooperative prisoner. Maybe she could allow him a little reprieve.

"Don't be so dramatic. Maybe you can help me. But you have to stay in your cell."

He glowered, motioning around the sparse room. "Am I supposed to work on the floor?"

It was pretty empty in there, she had to admit.

Rose stood slowly, and kept her eyes on him while she unlocked the cell door, as if her scrutiny itself would pin him to his spot. It seemed to work to some degree. His pale green gaze followed her, but he did not move. Perhaps he was trying to show her that he didn't want to make trouble.

Rose kicked in the now empty crate and slammed the door closed again, locking it promptly.

Hux seemed annoyed at her over-cautious attitude, but kept his mouth shut. After a moment's hesitation, he retrieved the small box, upturning it near the bars. It was the tiniest of makeshift chairs, and made his knees bend at an odd angle when he sat, but it was better than nothing. He scooted over, leaning his back against the wall.

"Fine," he drawled. "Now I have a box. I suppose you think I should be grateful."

"Wow, you are perceptive."

He sneered at her, but to his surprise, she extended her hands toward the bars, and he reached out to take the spanner and the servo she presented to him. The bars were close together, so he had to rotate his wrist to get a grip, and in doing so, his fingers closed over her hand. She was warm, the back of her palm much smoother than the pads of her fingers, rough from engineering work. She didn't say a word, and he didn't look at her, hoping she hadn't noticed his hesitation.

Their accord was tracking toward something genial, he realized with mild surprise. Less jailer and captive; spy and handler. She was speaking with him now like he were an ally. Well, maybe not quite that friendly, but certainly less contentious. He wondered; did she realize she was doing it? Or was it just natural for her?

No, he thought, turning his attention to the servo in his lap. She was working him over for information, not because she wanted to be there. He was responsible for much of her, her friend's, and the galaxy's misery. That kindness she was showing him had purpose. She wanted something from him, like everyone else had in his life.

Such thoughts made him gloomy, but he was able to lose himself in the mechanical task she'd given him. Something to focus on other than the four walls around him.

As they worked, Rose kept shooting stealthy glances in his direction. He seemed very attentive, face impassive except for a small crease between his brows from concentration. She noticed a shadow forming where it was clear he normally shaved. Like this, in civilian's clothes and looking just a degree or two off from normal, she could almost squint and see the person Hux could have been if he hadn't been born into the remnants of the Empire.

She tried to picture him tooling over parts in a workshop, drinking tea with an orange cat sleeping in his lap. It wasn't a memory, she'd just made it up after all, but there was a weird feeling of fondness at the thought.

He was easy.

Free.

And she'd barter bits of scavenged ships components for his work on receiver relays and the for the enjoyment of company.

"Miss Tico. Really."

She blinked at the datapad in her hands, realizing he was speaking to her.

"Huh?"

He rattled the servos he'd thrust through the bars at her, a muscle in his jaw jumping in annoyance

Rose looked sheepish, "Sorry," and took the part to hooking it up to the datapad. She passed him another one.

Operating in tandem, they finished in no time at all, and in the quiet routine they'd established, Rose forgot all about her intentions of questioning him.

"Yes!" Her hand pumped into the air when they were done. "This is great! You're pretty good at this, Hux."

He swallowed, feeling the tips of his ears go warm. "Childs play," he muttered.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't difficult, but it was going to take me a while. Maybe now I'll actually get some sleep tonight."

She saw Hux open his mouth to ask a question when the door down the hall swung open.

"What's all this racket?" They both looked up to see the Twi'lek, Therissa, ambling towards them.

"Just finishing up a little work," Rose said, gathering the servos into a pile.

"Is that all," the woman replied evenly, looking at Hux.

It was then that he realized he was still holding the spanner, the long, sharp, screwdriver end still extended. Rose noticed too, but was caught as the old woman's gaze rounded over to her next. The woman didn't look mad, just intense. Like she was staring straight through Rose's tight smile to whatever lay underneath.

"Yep," Rose said quickly, reaching through the bars and snatching the spanner from his hand. "What can we do for you?"

"I'm here to take a look at his injuries." She pointed a boney finger at Hux. "I'd say he's ready for the bandages to come off."

Hux stood, leaving his little stool to sit against the far wall on his pallet. Rose let the woman into the cell, locking the door behind her.

Therissa shuffled toward him. "Alright young man. Shirt. Off."

Hux blanched. Over the woman's shoulder, Rose still hadn't stacked up but less than half the servos.

"Surely this can… wait. A few minutes."

With a surprisingly swift arm, she rapped him over the forehead with her cylindrical medical tool.

He jumped with a shrill, "Ouch!"

"Don't test me."

Burning with shame, he rolled up the bottom of his jumper. Apparently though, he wasn't going fast enough. The woman grabbed the hem and yanked it upward, all the way to his collarbone. He let out an undignified yelp and tried to pull it down. Therissa only struck him in the forehead again, her grip quite strong.

"No struggling."

Despite telling herself not to stare, she did, and Rose thought he looked quite like a cat that had resigned itself to a bath. Arms limp at his sides, thoroughly miserable.

Stacking more servos, Rose heard the telltale plastic-y sound of his chest bandage being pulled away. She peered over again, and could see the bruising on his midsection had died down quite considerably, that was good. His chest rose and fell with his breathing, pale skin dotted with freckles. It's not like he had zero muscle definition. Why was he so skittish?

He certainly had a lot of old wounds though, but she couldn't really identify what they were, being all the way across the room.

She could see the patch of dark hair that started just above his navel. It trailed down in a line, down towards—

One of the servos slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground.

Damn it!

His gaze snapped from the ceiling over to her, eyes wide.

Rose ducked quickly to grab the errant component, shoving it into her arms.

"Very good," Therissa said, like she hadn't noticed a thing. She finally let his shirt drop back down. "Now, pants."

"Madam—!"

"I'm just going to go!" Rose winced at the sound of her own voice. Her arms weren't even full but she had to get out of there. Leaving the rest of the servos in a messy pile on the table, she kept her eyes looking anywhere but at him. She waved her hand in a lame goodbye, "See you later!" and walked very expediently out of the building.

"Don't stray too far!" Therissa called out after her. "I'm not staying locked in this cell!"

"Damn it," Rose hissed, reaching the exit but slowing to a stop just outside. She leaned her back against the outside wall, replaying what just happened over and over again in her head. Just what the hell had she been thinking? Looking like that?

"Rose?"

She blinked, the image of Rey coming into focus in front of her. For some reason, seeing the other woman made her blush even harder. Her thoughts were so loud in her head, she wouldn't be surprised if everyone around her could hear them.

"I'm just waiting," she blurted, realizing a little too late that Rey hadn't even asked her a question.

Rey cocked her head to the side. "With a bunch of… servos?"

"I… I was going to take them to the hanger but— I have to let Therissa out when she's done, so—"

Rey smiled a little. "Do you want me to take them for you?" Without waiting for an answer, she was already scooping the things from Rose's arms.

"Are you sure?" Rose felt a little bad. "You're probably really busy."

"I don't mind. It's nice to help out with the ships. I miss it from time to time; getting my hands dirty in an engine compartment." The woman's nose scrunched up playfully. Rose sighed, feeling a bit better. "How's our grumpy informant doing?" Well, Rose had been feeling a bit better…

"Uh, he's been… helpful? I think? We still have to check up on the information; make sure it's current. If we could get connected to the First Order holonet I think he'd be able to give us a few more specifics. That way, we could start planning some covert operations. Right now, it's all still in limbo."

"I see." Rey thought for a moment. "And how is he?"

"What, like, how's Hux in general?"

Rey nodded.

The question took Rose by surprise. No one else, not Finn nor Poe or even Connix, had asked about him.

"He's annoying. Pompous. Says just the right things to make you feel terrible." He likes tea, she thought. Hates canned juice. Good with tech. "He thinks the First Order was saving the galaxy. Can you imagine?" She scoffed. "He can get so riled up, but… sometimes he doesn't seem so angry. Sometimes he just seems sad."

In the abstract, Rose was confident in how much he despised General Armitage Hux. Every time she pictured him in his crisp Officer's uniform, standing before Starkiller or onboard a Star Destroyer, she wanted to punch him in the nose. And then… it was a strange sort of whiplash to see him tooling over ships' parts, thin shoulders hunched and spirit laid low by circumstances of his own making.

The spark of own her sympathy took Rose buy surprise; worried her. She wanted desperately to push it away but it clung, warm in her chest.

Rey was pensive. "I'd bet the First Order was his whole life. Can't have been easy."

"How you grow up's no excuse. You don't become a bad person just because your childhood was terrible."

"True," Rey agreed. "But then, no one's ever singularly 'bad,' are they?"

Rose shifted her weight from foot to foot. She supposed that were true… Rey would have an idea about such things. She knew she shouldn't bring it up, but for all the venom that had supposedly flew between Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren, they sort of reminded Rose of each other. "I'm sorry about what happened. On Exegol. With Ky— Ben. I'm so sorry, Rey."

Rey smiled. She didn't seem offended in the slightest. "Can I tell you a secret?" Rose nodded, and Rey leaned in to whisper very quietly, "I can feel him. In the Force."

"Really?" Rose was slack-jawed.

"Mm-hmm. I've been making progress trying to reach out to him; speak to him. I think it's working. So, he's not really gone. No one's ever really gone. Luke and Leia knew there was hope for Ben. He made terrible choices in life, but when given the chance, he did the right thing."

Rose crossed her arms. "And you think that's what Hux is trying to do? The right thing?" She didn't really believe that, did she?

Rey shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he doesn't even know."

"He's helping us to save himself. He thinks that if he gets in our good graces then he won't be held accountable for all the terribleness he's caused."

"He said that?"

"Well…" Rose's arms loosened. "Not exactly. He made the deal to protect himself. What else could the reason be?"

"I don't know," Rey had this far-off look on her face. "All we can do is give him a chance. I get the feeling it's been a long time since he allowed himself to care about anyone other than himself."

"Seems impossible," Rose mumbled. But then, his cat… She had to remind herself that he was capable of loving something. Millicent, for one.

"I've seen a lot of things in the last few days that I would have sworn were impossible. Not many things seem so impossible anymore." Rey gave Rose a true smile. "I better be going, looks like you're needed."

"What? I don't hear—"

Therissa's voice echoed out of the stone building. "Oiy! I'm finished! Now let me out of this bloody cage!"

Rey waggled her eyebrows at Rose, but before Rose could ask just how she'd been able to do that, Rey was off, heading towards the hanger with her arms full of servos.

Rose watched the woman's retreating back, feeling a little better. Rey's words hadn't alleviated all Rose's worries, but it had somewhat soothed them; that she wasn't completely wrong in allowing Hux a bit of her hope. The tiny spark of sympathy flickered, dim, but not dying.


"I've got good news and bad news," Rose said the next time she met with him, lugging a large, briefcase-shaped object into Hux's view and depositing it onto the table.

He paused in his stretches, something Therissa had insisted he begin now that he was on the mend. He stood, stretching his neck to one side. "Are you asking me to pick which I'd like to hear first?"

"Sure, why not."

"The latter," he said, walking over to the little crate by the bars.

"Well, I guess it can be 'good' or 'bad' depending on your perspective, but, looks like whatever's left of the First Order is trying to cannibalize itself. They've started fighting over their remaining territory. Some of the leaderless platoons have begun experimenting with a bit of piracy, hitting both our ships and some of the Order's. Smaller factions are being picked off by various system's militia forces."

Hux's heart sank as he lowered himself to sit. This was exactly the kind of chaos the First Order was created to prevent. The pain of seeing how such an organized force could devolve into such petty chaos hurt him truly. Conceptually he knew it was simply the natural selection process cleaning up the weak bits, but… all his work…

Rose sat down in her chair, humming at his expression. "I knew that wouldn't be easy to hear. It's good for the Resistance though. If the First Order starts killing each other, it'll be easier to stop them in the end."

Hux ran a hand over his face, frustrated. His frown deepened as his fingers grazed the stubble on his chin. He felt hot, angry, like he wanted to throw things. He resisted the urge to smash the crate he was sitting on.

He allowed his hands to ball into tight, white-knuckle fists instead.

"Do tell me the good news," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"This, of course!" She pointed to the black box. "Another project you can help me with."

Now that he got a good look, he was surprised to see the sleek casing of a TIE's internal processing computer.

His jaw unclenched. "Where did you get that?"

Rose smiled at him, rife with confidence. "We've got a few scavengers in our ranks. Thing is," she patted the computer like it were a sick animal, "it's damaged. We'd need to fix it before we can connect it to the First Order holonet; see what's going on from the inside. Then, we can match up the locations you gave us. Maybe even get some schematics on the bases."

"And you want my help to fix it?"

"I don't see anyone else around here with such impeccable First Order credentials, do you?" Her eyebrows jumped, and the corner of his mouth quirked up; he felt his hands relaxing on his knees.

She was excited, he could tell.

"It's too big to fit through the bars."

"Thought you'd say that." Rose reached into the back pocket of her fatigues, extracting a battered looking pair of cuffs. "I came prepared." She passed them through to him. "Now, one around your ankle and the other around the closest bar. That way I can leave the door open without having to worry about any funny business."

The insinuation in her words made him go slightly pink, but he did as he was told. Anything to fill time; stave off the crippling boredom. That's what he told himself.

"What am I going to do," he muttered darkly, "fight my way to some errant starship in the middle of the jungle? I don't even know what the outside of this base looks like."

"That's true," Rose mused, opening up the cell door once confident he'd secured himself. She set the processor between them.

Her chair was taller than his little perch, so when she bent down to unscrew the protective casing, it meant he could see up into her face as she worked, dark hair falling forward.

It must have been a side effect from lack of human contact, he supposed, that found him studying her face with far more indulgence than he'd allowed with any other person he cared to remember.

There was a smudge of engine grease up near her temple, but she didn't seem to notice, her mesmerizingly dark eyes focused on the task in front of her. His gaze dipped down over the smooth plain of her cheek, the curve of her lip, and snagged on the flattened-down collar of her work shirt. She'd left the top two buttons undone, revealing the skin of her collarbone. He stopped himself before going further out of sheer internal terror.

What the hell was he doing?

He snapped his eyes up to the ceiling, bland masonry a much safer place for him to stare.

She must have noticed him studying the stone rather than the processor.

"Are you seriously not paying attention right now?" She was incredulous. Reluctantly, he returned his gaze. She was sitting very close. He forced himself to look down at the TIE's internals, Rose having unscrewed the main housing to set it aside.

Ah, yes, he thought, peering at the tech before him. Something he could get his mind around; something firm and unfeeling, unlike the woman sitting before him.

"What seems to be the issue with this unit?" He asked, sounding like he was doing a routine inspection.

"Can't get the processor to connect to the datapad. It turns on, but it's like it won't recognize the signature of the pad's display."

"Have you tried tricking the processor into thinking it's connecting to a First Order terminal?"

"Well yeah, that's the first thing I did. That's like, the easiest thing you could try."

He sat back, appraising her with reservation. She was the head of the Resistance's Engineering Corps after all, he reminded himself. Such a task was probably quite rudimentary for her.

"Alright…" He moved around a few of the cables, trying to see which ports weren't fried. This was obviously a reclaimed unit from a crashed fighter. "Unfortunately, I am not as familiar with small-craft internals. I have much more experience dealing with large-scale operating systems."

"Should be the same basic concept, right? A computer's a computer. Don't tell me this is too much for you, Hux."

He felt himself grow warm. The nerve of her, teasing him!

"Do you want my help or not," he huffed.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Of course I do."

Good, he thought with no small amount of satisfaction. "Why don't you bypass the relay altogether?" His fingers splayed a cluster of wires, ones that connected a section of the processor to the bit that integrated with TIE's onboard computer.

Rose tapped her chin. "Yeah, but then how would we be able to connect to the Order's holonet? Doesn't the TIE's onboard have a direct link to the network?"

She was right, of course.

"You would have to plug it into some kind of array to boost the signal. Maybe cloak the transmission. Disguise it as a third-party request. Some Officer using a foreign computer but with a First Order signature." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame it. "There may still be information stored in the memory itself. Connecting to the Order's holonet might not be necessary if the information is up-to-date. The only problem would be how to see the data. If it can't connect to the display…"

"We could talk to the computer directly," Rose said, waving the datapad between them. "Forget the display. We'll pull the raw data right in from the hard drive. We'd have to remove and re-solder the cables directly, though."

He tilted his head.

"That's quite ingenious. It would all be in binary, however."

Rose shrugged. "Can't you read binary?"

He shook his head, genuinely impressed and a little annoyed that she could volley back everything he'd thrown her way. "Do you even have a specialty? Or are you simply proficient in nearly everything mechanical? Propulsion systems? Weapons arrays? Cloaking technology?"

She grinned at him. "Is that supposed to be some sort of compliment?"

His lips parted in surprise, feeling as thought she'd just scattered him all about the floor. Rose was holding his gaze, challenging and confident, but he could see her wavering courage as her words hung between them for longer and longer.

He had to say something.

Hux cut his eyes away. "If you'd like."

"Well…" she said, "Seems appropriate. I did invent the baffler."

He gawked at her, once again taken aback. How many Resistance ships had slipped through their fingers because of that damnable system? She'd invented that? All on her own?

"Incredible," he muttered. Her smile grew. "That's quite an accomplishment for someone—" His mouth snapped shut, but she'd heard him all right. He could almost feel her bristle in anger.

"'For someone' what? For someone like me," she supplied, obviously offended. The smile was gone. "For someone born on such a backwoods mining planet like Hays Minor? Is that it?"

"No, that's— that's not—" His hands stilled in their work, and Rose could see he was pink from the back of his neck to the tips of his ears. "For someone as young as yourself," he said, in a forcibly-even tone.

She laughed a note of surprise. "What?"

"I only meant— of course it's none of my business— only that it's quite unusual for—"

"How old do you think I am? Nineteen?"

He glanced up at her with steely reservation. "Is that a question meant to trick me?"

Rose laughed again. "No! I'm twenty-four, you jerk!" She let out another giggle.

Oh. Hux suddenly found himself on uneven footing. Was she angry with him? Or did she think he was a fool? "Ion engines are quite complicated," he said, ploughing through his confusion. "It is quite impressive that you were able—"

"How old are you then, huh?"

"What?"

"Well…" and he noticed that as she spoke, a delightfully light blush had taken hold of her cheeks. "Question for a question, right?"

"I didn't necessarily ask—

"Oh, just play along."

"Thirty-five," he said, as if getting right to the point would end his torment.

Her mouth formed a little 'oh,' before she added, "Huh."

That was an odd reaction.

"Was that… is that surprising?" He had no idea.

"I just thought… well, for a while I thought you were younger. But it makes sense. The facial hair does make you look a bit older."

Ouch.

Hux felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach all over again.

At his stricken expression, her brows pulled together with concern. "Sorry?"

He grazed his chin with the back of his hand, feeling a thrill of displeasure. "I hate it."

"Why? You don't think it makes you look distinguished?"

He almost choked.

"No."

Rose gave him a funny look.

"It's against regulation!" Obviously! "And bothersome! Being unable to go about my personal routine is quite possibly the most distressing aspect about being locked up in this tiny cage for days on end."

"That's the worst part? Really."

"You're right," he spat. "I have neglected so far as to mention the food being qualitatively substandard, the natural light being mediocre at best, and there being absolutely nothing for me to do most hours other than stare at the ceiling and the count divots in the stone. Additionally—"

"What about the company?"

His voice died in his throat. There was quiet emotion in her words, like she hadn't meant to breathe them into existence at all.

He looked up at her, feeling quite wrung out as her gaze held him captive.

"The company is…" Annoying, tiresome, compelling, warm— "the only highlight of my day."

She went a deeper shade of pink, and for a long moment, longer than he thought prudent, he wanted to reach out and touch her. He thought back to when he was injured, how she brushed the back of his hand; how delicate the feeling had been.

His fingers twitched, but then he remembered the look she'd given him back on the Supremacy, keeling and glaring and close to death. His fingers remained where they lay, gripping the side of the processor.

Eventually, she broke eye contact, and went back to busying herself with the datapad in her lap. "See? Not all that bad."

Her eyes whizzed over the screen so fast Hux doubted she were really reading it.


A/N: Thanks everyone who's read and reviewed so far!