Author's Note:So I think that this story will end up at seven chapters and approximately ten to twelve thousand words. Honestly, that's more than I thought it would be, but my brain tends to go down trains of thought that send me down long rabbit holes. I can't seem to write 'one-shots', for some reason my brain always feels the need to develop a story lol. Thank you for the kind reviews I've gotten so far, and enjoy chapter 5! This chapter is a bit of an introspection into Cara and Din's relationship and Cara's thoughts on it before I set up next chapter's action, which I promise will be there. I'm also pretty sure I'll use Din's third-person POV for a change in chapter 6. Chapter 7 will likely be the end. I've mapped out a plan in my head before I start typing away for once :P Happy reading!_

The need for sleep was desperately attempting too make itself known to Cara Dune, but she refused to give in. She guessed that it had been about three hours since she'd allowed Din to rest and resolved to protect him from whatever Tranon had to throw at them. The howls of the hidden creatures had relentlessly continued, jerking her back to awareness every time she almost succumbed to her exhaustion. If she had been alone, or if Din hadn't been so badly hurt, she would have taken the chance and slept despite the presence of the creatures lurking somewhere close. But the reality of her situation was that Din could barely move, and she'd be cursed to Malachor if a creature attacked before she could awaken to defend him.

With that in mind to keep her going through the remaining hours of the chilly night, Cara busied herself with gathering enough twigs and dry grass to start a small fire using one of the matches she'd discovered in the ship. The small flame provided enough warmth and light that she decided to turn off the lantern to conserve its dwindling power. Whether or not her small fire would attract or deter the elusive creatures remained to be seen.

Once she was sure that her little flame wouldn't be extinguished in the breeze, Cara cleaned her blaster while she chewed absentmindedly on a ration pack in an attempt to somewhat replenish her energy. The field rations were bland and their texture left a dry feeling on her tongue, but they were meant to keep your body going rather than satisfy your taste buds. She'd considered coaxing Din into eating, but she knew from experience that being injured killed your appetite. Plus, she wasn't sure if he would be comfortable eating in her presence, since he'd have to remove his helmet. So she'd let him sleep, aware that it would do him more good than food right now anyway.

Her eyes wandered to her resting comrade, who hadn't shifted since he'd last fallen asleep. She'd thought about their short but powerful friendship a lot since she'd looked into his eyes for the first and only time. When she met him on Sorgan about six months ago and assisted him in taking down a band of raiders and an AT-ST that they'd somehow possessed, she'd thought that after he left that would be the last she'd see of him. His character had interested her; an armored, intimidating-looking and mysterious bounty hunter of few words that had beneath it all had a genuinely kind heart and walked around with a tiny green baby in the crook of his arm. He was the first Mandalorian she had ever encountered, and she'd be lying if she said his character had been what she expected. Her mind had imagined battle-hardened, emotionless warriors that rode on the backs of roaring mythosaurs and conquered one another in endless civil wars on their crumbling home planet. From what little conversation she and Din had had about Mandalorians, apparently that had all once been true. After all, Din possessed a necklace of the skull of a mythosaur. She recalled the day on Nevarro when he'd given it to her, begging her to leave him behind to die and keep the child safe. That day she'd been terrified to lose him forever, and looking back she was eternally grateful that she hadn't. Ever since she went on her 'early retirement' from the Rebellion, her life had been void of trustworthy comrades and friends. For awhile she was fine with being a loner, but she had to admit that the loss of the camaraderie her squad of droppers had shared left a hole in her heart that needed to be filled. She just never would've thought that a Mandalorian and his alien toddler with magical powers would be the ones to fill it. And she knew, deep down in her heart, that she loved him dearly. Not loved him in a romantic sense, no, but like a brother. She knew without a doubt she'd die for him, and, dare she say, she knew he would for her. Before the Death Star obliterated her home, she'd had two brothers. She liked to think that her relationship with Din was what she would have had with her brothers now, fighting back to back on jobs and earning a living somewhere that they'd go unnoticed. She sighed. It was a future that could never happen now. No use dwelling on it.

Cara discarded the wrapper of her finished rations and stared up at the stars. The moon was no longer at the top of the sky, indicating that dawn would come within the next hour or two. The air was beginning to lose its chill, and she realized that she hadn't heard the howls of the creatures for a little while. Perhaps she could afford to sleep now...

A crunch of leaves in the nearby bushes caused her to jerk, whirling her head towards the source of the noise. Quietly, she picked up her blaster and got to her feet, stepping towards Din protectively. Her eyes searched in the dark for any sign of movement in the shrubs, desperate to identify what had been threatening them all night. Another crunch sounded to her right, this one louder than the first. She whipped her head towards the sound when a low growl echoed to her left. Fear gripped her as she planted her boots in the dirt beside Din, waiting for the creatures to reveal themselves. For a few more seconds the sounds of crunching leaves and grass being rustled continued until she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Taking a tentative step closer to the bushes, she saw a crest of fur about four feet tall slinking through the shrubs. She racked her brain to come up with any four-legged furry creatures that growled, but she failed to come up with anything she knew as she saw three more shapes move through the shadows.

Fearing the pack of creatures were preparing an attack, Cara gently nudged Din with her foot in an attempt to rouse him. "Hey," she whispered harshly, and nudged him again, daring to take her eyes off the bushes for a moment. "Hey. Buddy," she coaxed as she shook his good shoulder with her foot as carefully as she could. After a moment, she heard him inhale deeply before groaning softly from the strain it put on his ribs. "You awake?"

"Yeah," he answered groggily, before noticing she was standing over him with her blaster. "What's...going on?"

Before she could answer, more growls sounded in the bushes, and Cara could've sworn she saw a horn or a long, protruding tooth stick out of the shrubs for a moment.

"I'm afraid this pack of animals will attack us, so I woke you up. Do you have any idea what they are?" she asked once the growls stopped and only the sounds of the concealed creatures trudging through the grass remained.

Din didn't answer, just seemed to listen intently and look through his dark visor towards the threat. After what Cara guessed was an agonizing minute of waiting, her eyes spotted dark, spotted fur at the edge of the bushes. Din must have seen it too, because he gingerly shifted himself to where he could reach his blaster.

"I think they're anoobas," he finally said, and Cara caught a hint of fear in his tired voice. If whatever an anooba was gave a Mandalorian reason to be afraid, then she probably had the right to outright panic.

"I don't know what those are," she told him, trying her best to keep her fear out of her voice. It was only partly fear for herself; most of it was fear for Din, should they be overwhelmed by the numerous creatures and he be injured even more gravely than he already was.

"They're vicious," Din remarked shortly. "They're carnivorous canines that travel in packs. They have big teeth, a long tooth jutting out of their chin, and a large appetite."

"Great," Cara responded sarcastically and made sure her blaster was primed. "Have you ever fought one?"

"Once."

"And?"

"I made it out with a few...minor injuries," he responded carefully before gingerly pushing himself into a straighter sitting position, the effort eliciting a grunt of discomfort from under his helm.

"Wonderful," Cara quipped and spared a glance at the sky. Dawn seemed to be coming faster, but the sun probably wouldn't begin to illuminate the plains for about an hour. "Do they come out in the daytime?"

"I don't think so, unless they're starving," Din deduced as the growling sounds from the bushes suddenly became louder.

Cara's finger hovered dangerously over the trigger, wondering if she should simply spray laser bolts until the anoobas fled.

"Let's not provoke them," Din suggested, seeming to sense her unease. "If we do, they'll only have more reason to attack us. Just make sure they don't attack before dawn, and we should be safe while the sun is out," he reasoned, the long sentence taking more out of him than he would have liked.

"Fine," Cara agreed, although she didn't let her eyes stray far from the dark bushes. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"No. I've slept enough," Din responded rather quickly, his helmet staying fixed towards the sounds of the anoobas. "You should sleep. I'll keep watch."

"Are you sure?" Cara asked uncertainly. The only thing causing her to hesitate to take him up on his offer was fear for his safety should she be unable to protect him. But in all seriousness, she was exhausted.

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "If anything jumps out, I'll wake you."

"Okay, fine," she accepted, relieved to finally give her body rest. "But don't try to move around too much."

"Don't worry about me," Din admonished. "Get some rest."

Cara offered him a tired smile and a nod of thanks before stretching out in the grass and laying her blaster at arms reach.

"And Cara?"

"Yes?"

A beat. "Thank you."

She smiled, a warm feeling filling her heart.

"Anytime."

Notes:*Anoobas do exist in canon, you can look them up on Wookieepedia for a visual. Apparently they live on desert planets but I'm taking the freedom to ignore that.*Malachor was a planet that contained an ancient Sith temple. It appeared in Rebels Season 2. In The Clone Wars a character once used it in an expression with negative connotation so I figured that it might be a galaxy-wide thing like 'dank ferrik' seems to be.