"Check it out!" Sierra flexes her feet, showing off her favorite pair of high heels. "I'm back in action."
Steela squints. "Did you put makeup on your leg?"
"You would too if your leg had just come out of a cast. So, when are we getting another job?"
"Don't you want to wait a little longer?"
"I've been waiting around for weeks! Give me a garrison to take for their last cred. Heck, give me one with an ISB agent. I'll eat them for lunch."
"Maybe start with a lieutenant and work your way up to the ISB," Lux suggests.
"Fine," Sierra pouts. "Just give me a job."
"Be careful what you wish for. I have one lined up, but it requires you being on your feet. Feel up to dancing?"
"I can give you a refresher course," Saw offers.
"I'll take it," Sierra replies to both of them and flounces off to put spray tan on her leg.
She appears in the doorway of Saw's room about an hour later, after they've both had a chance to get themselves in order. "Ready?"
"Yeah." Saw sends one last text before putting his comm unit away.
"Who was that? Mara? Or Tiana?" She asks.
"Neither, actually. Those two were getting all weird."
"Trying to get over Soniee?"
"Just like you're trying to get over your caf shop boyfriend."
Sierra glares. "He is not my boyfriend."
"Whatever you say," Saw smirks. "Come on, let's get you dancing."
She isn't quite willing to give up the topic yet. "So, who are you texting now?"
"Some girl. It doesn't really matter when she'll be gone in a month."
"Don't you feel bad about forgetting their names? At least I remember the guys I'm texting."
"Texting?"
"Why do you care? You're not in a place to judge."
"I'm not sixteen."
Sierra stops and glares. "If I'm old enough to grift Imperials and be strapped to a torture table, then I'm old enough to text boys." She scowls at her comm. "At least, when they text me back."
Saw nods reluctantly. "So since neither of us have the high ground, can we agree not to bug each other?"
"Deal." They shake on it.
…
The evening progresses as normally as it can go under the circumstances. They eat dinner. Saw cheats when he and Rex play sabaac, but he still loses. As the rest of them get ready for bed, everyone who actually cares to watch the University of Onderon lose sits in front of the TV.
Sierra hobbles over to her bed and sits down, absently grabbing one of her holobooks. Steela glances at the cover. She hates that one.
"It's still crazy in here," she notes. With her stuff, Sierra's stuff, Katooni's stuff, and unclaimed stuff, the girls' room is basically organized chaos. It gets worse when they pull Katooni's trundle out from under Sierra's bed, thus taking up all the floor space.
"Has it ever not been crazy?" Sierra asks.
"At least we're not pulling out Katooni's bed. She's been sleeping with Hutch and Hero since they got her back. Hutch will probably be happy when Kat moves back here. Last night, I was returning Hero's shirt and saw the sleeping arrangement."
"Really?"
"Hero was smashed against the wall. Katooni was in the middle, she looked cozy and not cramped, and Hutch was barely clinging to the edge of the bed. The sound of me opening the door woke up Hero, and she sat up. That was enough to knock Hutch off the bed."
Sierra snorts. "Hutch versus gravity, huh?"
"Your mom said you and Lux had a few incidents with Lux versus gravity."
She nods. "I pushed him off a diving board once when I was ten. Mom and Dad read me the riot act for that one."
That's when Steela notices she's holding the holobook down too low to actually be reading it. When Sierra's not looking, Steela cranes her neck to see what she's hiding behind it. It's a pink stuffed Gundark, worn and ragged as if she's had it a long time.
Very carefully, Steela takes the holobook from her hands.
"How long have you had him?"
Sierra turns pink as the toy. "It must have been in my duffel bag when we ran. I've had it since I was a baby."
Now Steela may not be a grifter, but she knows that when a sixteen-year-old is white-knuckling a stuffed animal, they are terrified.
"Sierra, do you want me to sleep in your trundle tonight?"
"Please," her voice is so small.
…
"Do you want me to sleep next to you tonight?"
Ha. Ha! What a joke. It implies that they're actually getting some sleep tonight.
Sierra can't sleep without the light on. She tosses and turns, unable to close her eyes without seeing Tor. And when she does fall asleep she's up within the hour, soaked with sweat and sobbing.
Steela's starting to wish she'd shot Tor where he stood.
To make matters worse, Tav is being extremely fussy. He's been screaming all night, and when Steela managed to sneak out to get a drink of water Ahsoka told her that she thinks he's teething.
Apparently teething babies lie on their mothers' shoulders, screaming and pulling at their ears while Mommy bounces and rocks them so that they will somehow to go sleep. But Tav and Sierra are waking each other up.
And Ahsoka and Steela are getting no sleep because of it.
At the moment, however, it's pretty peaceful. Tav is quiet, and Sierra is sleeping. And then Steela hears it from the hallway.
"Ahsoka, do you want me to take him for a while. You need a rest." Lux says.
"Thank you," Ahsoka whispers, followed by a kiss, which in turn is followed by an ear-piercing:
"Waaaaaa!"
Steela squeezes her eyes shut. Oh please, please let Lux and Ahsoka get the baby back to sleep. Please don't let the screaming wake up –
"Get away from me!"
Too late.
Steela shakes her hard. "Sierra, wake up! You're having a nightmare."
"No, no, no!" Sierra sobs, awake but not yet out of her panic attack.
The bedroom door opens and Lux steps in.
"I'm sorry. I jostled Tav a little too much. He has a preference, and that preference is Mama," he apologizes, rushing over to Sierra's other side. With a tentative hand, he places his arms around his sister.
"It's all right. You're safe," he says, rocking her back and forth.
Steela steps back. Sierra is still shaking, but less so. She's safe with Lux, just like Steela was when Saw extended that same kind of comfort.
"You're such a good brother," she whispers.
"I try," Lux quips.
"Woooohoooooo!"
"Look! Look at that! In your face, University of Mandalore!"
I roll my eyes. "Hang on, let me go find out what that's all about."
But I've no sooner walked up to the door than Hero rips it open.
"The University of Onderon won!" she yells.
Sierra's jaw drops. "The University of Onderon did what?"
Ahsoka muscles into the bedroom. "Guys, you've got to see this. All the fans are flooding the field!" she says.
Lux grabs Sierra like a child and literally carries her out into the living room, Steela more than happy to follow.
"Hutch, stop moving. You're blocking the screen," Saw crabs.
Hutch ignores him, opting instead to dance around the room with Hero and belt out "Ruping Battle Cry". Rex, still decked out in his University of Mandalore fan wear, is dancing with Katooni. Shot in the dark, she begged him to.
Lux dumps Sierra on the couch and they focus on the screen. The blue-and-orange-clad U of Onderon fans swallow the field, climbing on the goal posts and celebrating one of their team's victories. Something so rare, and so absolutely wonderful.
Victory at last for U of Onderon.
Victory, sort of, for them.
They join in on the singing for the last verse of Ruping Battle Cry.
"Our honor defend, so we'll fight to the end for On-der-on!"
Lux's Sister and I thank you for joining us on this adventure and please check out her other While Others stories to follow the continuing adventures of the Onderon Con Men!