Star Wars does not belong to me. Just Skylar & Co.
Just wanted to let you know that this little mission is taking place before the Youngling arc. Just in case you wonderful readers were wondering. :)
Big thanks to Amaris the demon of Mortis, purplewillowtrees, Jasmin Kenobi, Tahiri Veila Solo, spikala, and Janizary for reviewing!
It was late evening and Kenna had just walked in the door to her apartment. Exhausted after a long day at work, she slipped out of her shoes and dropped her bag beside them. All she wanted was something hot to eat and some time with her baby. It's hard to believe that Griff's already a year old.
Wreck should be here, he should be greeting me with our son.
She still loved the commando, she'd even occasionally considered calling him. But the fact that he'd refused to visit their baby after he was born, when the medics had still been uncertain if Griff would make it or not... I don't think I could handle that. If he leaves again... Worse, if he doesn't want anything to do with us. That was the only thing she could think of that would explain why Wreck had never visited her since she'd divorced him the Mando way. He hasn't even called...
"Mama! Mama!"
Kenna managed a bright smile for her one-year-old as Griff crawled as fast as he could towards her. Since he'd been born prematurely, Griff was slower to develop than most children. And he had asthma too. They'd spent several days of the past month in the emergency ward of the medcenter because of his weak lungs. And the bills were still piling up...
The Kiffar woman leaned down and pulled her son close to him, hugging him tightly, "Hey, baby boy. Mama missed you too."
"He was pulling himself up again today," Tessa said from the doorway to the den. "I'd say another month or two and he might actually be walking."
Kenna smiled halfheartedly at her aunt, "One can only hope. Thanks for watching him today, Tess. Do you mind keeping him again tomorrow? His babysitter's still sick."
"I wouldn't mind taking over for Heather," the older Kiffar woman said with a smile. "That way, you won't have to pay the babysitter and you'll have more money for Griff's health bills."
"Yeah," she answered distractedly, her focus on her son's face. Little Griff's soft hair was the same deep red that hers was, his skin the same olive tone. Even his eyes were the same pale green as hers. But his features... Those were all Wreck. He may look like me, but Griff is definitely his father's son. And that thought hurt. Even after all this time, she still thought of Wreck as her commando. She was still torn between her need for him and the mistrust she still harbored because of his actions a year ago.
"You've been thinking about him again."
"Who?" Kenna kept her eyes trained on her son, who was babbling away like he was telling her about his day. The only discernible words were 'Mama' and the heartbreaking 'Dada'. That was one thing she didn't look forward to. When her son was finally old enough to ask why 'Dada' wasn't around. My fault that he even knows the word. I should not have kept that picture of Wreck where Griff can see it. Little Griff, being just a baby, was naturally curious about everything. A month ago, he'd become infatuated with Kenna's beloved flatpix of his father, taken by Kenna herself when she was five months pregnant, and she'd made the mistake of telling him that it was 'Dada'.
Tessa raised her brows, distorting her dark green facial tattoo. Kenna, being Kiffar as well, had her own facial tattoo, the same color, but a single line slanted across her left eye instead of her aunt's two straight lines. "You know who I mean. Wreck. I still think you were too hard on him. I could see that he felt terrible-"
"Can we not talk about Aran's sergeant, Tess? Please? I've already had a bad day at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and talk about that... that... homewrecker."
Tessa snorted, rolling her eyes, "Everyone makes mistakes, Kenna. You're forgetting that Wreck knew nothing about relationships until he met you. You'd already been through what... five guys?"
"Tessa! I don't want to have this discussion, you know I'll start yelling and I don't want to upset Griff."
"Okay, just consider what I've said."
"I'll think about it, but don't expect-" and then her comlink went off. A certain tone she hadn't heard in a year. Wreck. Of all times, why now? Judging from her aunt's expression, she remembered who the tone belonged to as well.
"Just give him a chance, Kenna." The older woman kissed her cheek and walked out the apartment door, leaving Kenna alone with a squirming Griff.
Trying to decide whether or not she should answer Wreck's call.
Wreck had left, leaving the door wide open. It had been fifteen minutes since the sergeant had headed to his quarters. And Fives couldn't bring himself to get up and just shut the door, he had too much on his mind. How in the manda am I going to make this right with Sky?
"F'ika?" He turned and saw his wife standing in the doorway. Eyes red and puffy and her posture practically screaming uncertainty. I did that to her. I am such a di'kut.
He sat up and opened his arms wide, "Come here, cyar'ika." To his relief, she settled herself on his lap.
"Fives, sweetheart, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have yelled at you-"
He shook his head as he tightened his hold on her, "No, S'ika. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have walked out on you like that. I know you can protect yourself. I didn't mean to smother you. I love you and I can't-"
"Lose me. I know, babe, I know. I feel the same way about you. That's all I was trying to say, but I lost control of my temper. I'm really sorry."
"Nothing to apologize for. Can you forgive me?"
Sky leaned up and kissed him strongly, "Does that answer your question?"
"Uh-huh," he answered breathlessly, leaning down to lock his lips with hers again. His fingers sliding down to caress her armored belly. Only two more months before she starts to show. The thought made him almost giddy. It was a weird feeling for an ARC Trooper. But a good one.
And, of course, there was the sound of someone clearing his throat. Fives looked up and gave Kot an irritated glare. The former trooper gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry, but Aran's already out at the wreckage. We need to get out there too before those hut'uunla pirates start getting suspicious."
Sky nodded, hopping up from Fives' embrace. She pulled her helmet off her belt and slid it on. Fives followed suit and the three of them headed out to the remains of Maul and Oppress' ship.
Kot couldn't help but notice that something was off about Wreck. True, the man wasn't a member of his squad and the former trooper couldn't read him as well as he could read Hew, but Kot could clearly see that Aran's sergeant was hurting. Not physically. Emotionally. And Kot was well-versed in that department. He still woke from nightmares of losing his squadron. "Everything alright, Ruus'alor?"
Wreck looked up from an instrument panel he was investigating, meeting Kot's gaze from the other side of the cargo compartment. It was just the two of them, the rest of the team had split up. The other three members of Aran were going over the cockpit and Fives and Sky were checking the escape pods.
The bronze-haired man's expression turned thoughtful for a second. And then he shook his head, turning his focus back to his task, "Just got a lot on my mind, vod'ika. And don't call me Ruus'alor, okay? That's Sky, not me."
"Sorry." There was silence as Wreck moved to another instrument panel and Kot checked out the contents of the crates. So far, all empty, already plundered by the pirates. The silence wasn't awkward really, but it was still uncomfortable to the newest member of Beta. He was used to chatter. Most of that came from Doz, but Top and Hew contributed as well. Aran was a different squad altogether. They did talk with each other, joked around even, but they were a quieter group of men. More than once, Kot had caught the four of them sitting quietly together, enjoying the peace.
Whereas, for Kot, absolute silence drove him crazy. His mind would start to wander, drift toward Watt and Lark and his other brothers... He shook his head, "Do you want to talk about it, ner vod?"
"Doz has been rubbing off on you, hasn't he? You haven't been quiet once since Skylar paired us up."
Kot chose to ignore that, "So, are you gonna tell me or what?"
Wreck shook his head, "Not now, Kot. It's a long story. Later, okay?" The man took out his comlink, looked at it wistfully, then stuck it back into the pouch at his belt. If anything, Kot thought he detected hints of sorrow and regret in his brother's gaze.
"Vod'e! Come quick!"
The sound of Cordav's excited shout had both men running full tilt to the escape pods. Within seconds, Kot could see the rest of Aran following them thanks to the 360 in his HUD.
A minute later, the five of them stopped short at the sight of Skylar and Fives examining a pod bay. An empty pod bay. The Zabraks must have fled right before the ship crashed. That means the two of them are still alive...
Judging from the looks on the couple's faces, they'd removed their helmets again, the two of them were thinking the same thing.
Kot was about to swear in irritation, but stopped as something caught his eye. An instrument panel had been crushed, but not from the crash. Kot knew damage inflicted by a Force-user when he saw it.
They didn't want anyone to follow them...
manda = heaven
di'kut = idiot, moron
cyar'ika = sweetheart
hut'uunla = cowardly
Ruus'alor = sergeant
vod'ika = little brother
ner = my
vod = brother
vod'e = brothers
Please R&R.
