Author's Note: Hello readers! Finally, the conclusion is here! This story took me about a month to get through, which I think is decent considering that it's over 15,000 words and I have school. Since we have so much time until Season 3, I will probably write more Mandalorian fics. Feel free to send me any prompt suggestions in either a review or a pm! Preferably I like to write stories that have Din and Cara and some level of Din whump, but I am 100% willing to include other characters such as Grogu, Bo-Katan, etc. I also am open to writing alternative scenes/endings of canon events in the show (I have done so before.) I do not write romance. I can't guarantee I'll write frequently since I don't often get the urge, but I can probably manage to do some smaller fics every month or two. Anyways, without further ado, enjoy the last chapter!

Exactly twenty-four hours later, Cara Dune was somehow still awake, sitting in Tranon's grass warm from the morning sun with her charged blaster in her lap. Din was still fast asleep on his back not far from her, the events of the last morning having taken their toll. There had been no howls, no growls, and frankly, no sounds other than the breeze passing over the grasses and Cara's own breathing all throughout the afternoon, the night and into this morning. She began to believe that perhaps the anoobas would not return, at least not before Greef would at last decide to arrive to take them off of this rock for good.

With her exhaustion beckoning, she decided it seemed safe enough to finally give in to her body's endless demands for sleep.

She was wrong.

Cara didn't know how long she had been asleep when she suddenly felt cold and very wet. It took her sleep-addled mind a moment to realize that it was raining rather heavily, the ice-cold raindrops beating down on her and their tiny camp. She still didn't open her eyes; she was somehow warm despite the frigid rain. It was almost as if there was a warm puff of air blowing on her face every so often, and a moment later she brushed her hand against something very soft, like a fur blanket skinned off of a wild dog that she once had in her home on Alderaan. She was so comfortable that she almost drifted off again when she realized that her warm blanket was moving.

Her eyes were open in a fraction of a second, and they met the dark yellow eyes of a hungry, furry predator, whose hot breath suddenly gave her chills rather than soothing warmth.

With an involuntary scream of panic, she bolted up and grabbed her blaster, inadvertently smacking the anooba's nose with her gun in the process. It howled in pain and surprise as she stood up to face it. She noticed that this was the large one she had failed to kill earlier, and in her peripheral vision she caught a smaller one advancing towards a seemingly awakening Din. And that could not be allowed.

Not daring to shoot so close to her friend, she clumsily sprayed her blaster at her own attacker who easily dodged the stray red bolts. She let her eyes drift to Din for a moment, and was satisfied to see him aroused and attempting to fire at his smaller attacker. She noticed his shots were as off as he was, unrefined and desperate. Hopefully one anooba wouldn't be enough to get the better of him.

Cara was distracted a moment too long, because the next thing she knew the large anooba she'd woken up to was snapping its jaws at her, as if it wanted a fair fight and was waiting for her to be ready. Grounded back into the moment, she wasted no time for flair and sprayed more blaster fire at the anooba that was now about ten feet away. Its ability to dodge was remarkable, but she did manage to singe its fur on its spotted side with one lucky shot that elicited a distressed howl from the hungry canine.

Cara was about to capitalize on her advantage when a yelp of pain suddenly sounded behind her, and it definitely wasn't from one of the anoobas.

She abandoned her opportunity and whirled around, a hundred horrific scenarios racing through her head in only a split second as her rain-soaked dark hair whipped into her eyes. Her eyes found Din on his back in the mud, wrestling with his small and apparently stupid attacker which had clamped its jaws on his beskar vambrace and done no real damage. Cara noticed fearfully that Din's blaster had somehow been wrested out of his grip and was lying about six feet away, out of reach. However, his blaster proved to not be his only line of defense as Din activated his flamethrower on his wrist. The orange flames scorched the mouth of the dog before quickly sputtering out, either from lack of fuel or the downpour. The small anooba howled almost pitifully, its jaw now black and already reeking of sizzled flesh, but to Cara's surprise it stood its ground and did not flee.

It was too late when she realized she had been so focused on Din's situation that she had forgotten all about her own.

Her breath was knocked right out of her when about two hundred pounds crashed into her back and slammed her into the sopping mud, causing her blaster to fly out of her hand and just out of arm's reach.

Gasping for air, she flailed her arms and legs defensively as she felt the anooba desperately trying to get to her neck for the kill. Somehow she managed to roll onto her back, making it easier to keep the dog's drooling jaws at bay. Years of hand-to-hand combat training had served her well.

She gave a powerful kick on the canine's stomach that bought her a moment to catch her breath, but despite it the massive predator had managed to stay on top of her. She took the small opening the kick had earned her and attempted to reach her blaster, but before her fingers could brush it her attacker quickly stopped her arm with its long claws.

Cara grunted involuntarily, more in frustration than in pain despite the sharp claws of the anooba digging into her unprotected arm. She tried to reach her vibroknife tucked into her boot, but the dog was fully on top of her and she couldn't bend her legs to reach it. A groan of human pain followed by a yowl from an animal reached her ears, but she couldn't afford to avert her eyes. She only prayed Din would be able to slay his attacker without the help she was currently unable to give.

Resorting to fist fighting, she lifted up her not-pinned arm and punched the dog squarely in the nose right below its massive horn-like tooth. Again, the anooba recoiled but did not falter, and decided it was its turn to be on the offensive.

Cara desperately kept every snap and scratch from the canine at bay, with a few getting past her punches and kicks and drawing blood on her arms. Her blaster was still out of reach, and she couldn't afford to spare an arm to attempt to grab it. She absentmindedly realized her situation was becoming dire as she blocked yet another bite from the vicious dog. She couldn't afford to attack it, since it was throwing its own attacks at her so swiftly she never had the time. If only she could reach her knife!

Cara decided to make a last-ditch effort to grab her vibroknife tucked in her boot, but it only earned her a bite on the arm. The anooba had both her arms pinned now, and its couple hundred pounds were effectively keeping her down in the mud. Normally she could throw a three hundred pound man off of her easily, but the dog had its weight positioned just so and was attacking too quickly and too relentlessly for the ex-shock trooper to find an opening. All she could think was this is not good.

Her exhaustion almost had the better of her when suddenly the sound of a blaster bolt being fired rang out, and less than a second later the massive anooba howled in pain and dropped, cold and dead with a smoking hole in its side. The weight of the limp corpse that immediately fell on her chest was almost suffocating.

With a grunt she pulled the stinking animal off of her and sat up, and upon doing so she saw a sight that made her wonder if she was seeing things from lack of sleep.

About ten feet away was Din, standing up, with his blaster raised and smoking in the rain. Granted, all of his weight was on his left side and his left arm was wrapped tentatively around his shiny silver cuirass, but Cara still couldn't help but think it was a miracle he was upright.

She almost forgot that the dead anooba beside her wasn't the only threat to them until she saw the smaller one that had been attacking Din quietly stalking him from behind, its bony haunches prepared to launch.

Panic gripped Cara's heart when she realized that she wouldn't be quick enough to grab her blaster to shoot the predator. The best she could do was shout a warning and hope Din could react quickly enough without falling.

"Din, look out!" she shouted over the pouring rain as loud as she possibly could, her panic obvious in her slightly hoarse tone. Din waited a split second too long before turning, which gave the dog its opportunity to launch off the ground to tackle him to the ground.

Except, before it made contact, it fell out of the air with a smoking hole in its back.

There was a moment before the sound of a ship filled Cara's ears, followed by sprays of water flying into her already dripping face. The heavy rain prevented her from seeing at first, but soon enough a small grey transport ship came into view, with its ramp out and on it a bounty hunter with a smoking sniper rifle.

Greef Karga soon joined the hunter on the ramp.

"Need a lift?" he greeted over the noise with a wave of his arm, his signature genial grin shining on his dark face. Cara couldn't help but smile and let out a joyful sigh of relief. "Took you long enough!"

The ship finally touched down on the mud, and Greef soon walked down the ramp, his black magistrate's cape flowing behind him. "Sorry I took so long, but Mythrol didn't bother to inform me that your beacon was no longer on until last night."

Din somehow reached Cara's side, and she briefly glanced at him to make sure he wouldn't topple over. The rain making contact with his armor made constant little pinging sounds, like raindrops on a metal roof.

"It's all right, as long as you're here now," Cara forgave Greef, who acknowledged her with a nod.

"Were those anoobas? Those things are nasty," Greef commented, his eyes wandering to the two corpses at the camp.

"Yeah, they weren't fun," Cara remarked distastefully, eyeing both of the dogs to make certain they weren't going to get up again.

"Well," Greef began, and slapped his hand on Din's shoulder in what was supposed to be a friendly gesture that instead elicited a grunt of pain from the previously silent Mandalorian.

Greef drew his hand away in confusion, but the realization hit him when he realized he'd slapped a dirty bandage on Din's shoulder. Cara saw his dark eyebrows raise in surprise and a guilty look washed over his jovial face.

"By the Force, Mando, are you all right?"

The armored bounty hunter wavered slightly on his feet. "'m fine…" he said softly, his voice barely audible through his helmet before he swayed.

Cara caught him before he fell.

MANDOMANDOMANDOMANDOMANDOMANDOMANDOMANDOMANSOMANSOMANSOMANDOMANDOMAND

The ride back to Nevarro was a bit of a blur for Cara. After Din had fainted, she'd dragged him up the ramp of Greef's ship and into the cockpit much in the same way she had a couple of days ago, after his fall from the mountain top. Much to her delight, they left the bolt bucket that caused them to get stranded in the first place there to rot. Greef had sent his hunter to go collect Cara and Din's payment for destroying the imperial base, all the while looking at the limp Din with cautious concern, as if he might shatter at the smallest touch.

Greef's care had touched Cara in the past couple of months. He'd told her stories of how Mando was the most efficient and deadly bounty hunter in the parsec, often bringing in bounties faster than Greef could obtain pucks.

"Nothing stopped him," Greef had recalled on the journey back while he flew, much to Cara's interest despite her exhaustion. "One day he waltzed into the cantina with a broken arm and a rather concerning limp but still sat down and demanded as many pucks as I could give him."

Cara had smiled at the picture in her head. Din had already told her the story of how he'd met the child, of how he'd been a bounty. His character had never failed to fascinate her; once he had been seemingly selfish and lonesome, but all of a sudden the little green baby came into his life and changed him. Greef had said that the change in Mando was apparent from the moment he returned to Nevarro after delivering the child. "He seemed uneasy and unsure of himself, which was so unlike him," Greef had said referring to that day. "It was the first time I really considered that there was a living, breathing man under that mask."

Cara had almost told Greef that she had seen under the mask, seen Din's eyes and seen just how human he was. But she'd looked to her unconscious friend slumped in the passenger seat of the cramped cockpit and decided against it. Sooner or later, Din might decide to reveal himself to Karga, so she chose to keep her secrets private until then.

About an hour later, they'd arrived on Nevarro in the dead of the night for the planet. Cara had been ready to carry the still sleeping Din all the way to his small apartment in town, but Greef had insisted that he call over his medical staff to handle it, since Din needed to see them anyways.

Through sheer willpower Cara had kept her eyes open while Greef's personnel took care of Din, replacing his soiled bandage on his shoulder, tightly wrapping his broken ribs and putting his leg in a cast with a built in bone-knitter. He did not wake throughout the procedures, only softly moaned occasionally when his ribs or leg were handled. Cara was thankful that he slept, since the ministrations would undoubtedly be uncomfortable. They'd removed his cuirass, a pauldron, and the beskar plate on his right leg, but Cara made certain that his helmet was not touched despite the fact that apparently these doctors had once worked for the Guild and had treated him before. As soon as they'd finished with him, they'd given her some supplies to treat her own more superficial injuries before leaving. Cara had lost the fight with sleep soon after and ended up sleeping on a small armchair near Din's bed.

Din had woken up feverish the next morning due to a minor infection from his shoulder burn, but after about a day and a half it dissipated. He helped Cara with marshaling as much as possible to give himself something to do, despite the fact that he hated being seen around town in crutches. Care had playfully teased him for it, only adding to his annoyance.

It only took a week until Din was able to walk without help, the only sign of his recent injury being a hitch in his step. He didn't take any jobs for a while, not only because the previous one had gone so wrong but also because that job had paid well enough to earn him a break, which apparently was a new concept to him that Cara was more than happy to introduce him to.

Cara had to admit that their short time on Tranon had brought them closer. She'd fought tooth and nail for his safety, and she could tell he was affected by it. He'd thanked her when he'd first awoken, almost shyly but very sincerely. She'd smiled and told him he would have done the same.

Because she knew, without a doubt, he would.

Post-Script Notes:That's all, folks! I absolutely loved writing this story for the past month. I had no idea it would be this long when I started, but here we are. Thank you so much for the following it gained so quickly. Until the next fic!