Chapter Summary: In this chapter, Whiskey gets a lot of reminders that he knows a lot of people, and they like him, they really like him.

Notes: So there I was, struggling to figure out what to write for another chapter. Did I break the rule of only one member per faction that wasn't the Rogues? Did I do one of the Mikes from Planet Mike? Did I do Constable Cuddles?

And then, in the shower, it hit me: do one where Whiskey gets support from his friends when he's down. The basic idea was that he's laid up in bed, and some of his friends send him get well stuff, with Pendles and Oscar having delivered it on behalf of the others, and Deande taking care of him. I added in Constable Cuddles, because while I couldn't think of enough to write a chapter from his perspective, I wanted to include him.

Italics in this chapter mean "written in note", bold italics is because Orendi presses down really hard with pens.

Chapter 11: Whiskey Foxtrot

Whiskey Foxtrot woke up aching more than he had in a long time, which if the memory of foiling an attempt on Deande's life from some Rendain supporters was right, made sense. He vaguely recalled Deande and Rath showing up shortly before his body decided being unconscious was a good idea.

Deande doing paperwork in his room made sense. Not like it wasn't something she'd occasionally done on Nova when he'd wound up in the medbay.

Pendles and Oscar Mike playing with Constable Cuddles on the floor… that was something he had a hard time figuring out.

"Welcome back," Deande said, because of course she knew he was awake without him saying anything. Probably something to do with his breathing. Pendles probably knew too. Spies and assassins were supposed to be good at that sort of thing.

"I'm not dead, right? Cause ignoring the fact those two are here, I was expecting to wait for you when I got to the afterlife."

She smiled as she moved over to his bed and kissed him above his third eye, "Flattery, you must be feeling better."

"Does that mean we can give him his presents?" Oscar eagerly asked, quickly moving to his bedside to help him sit up without being asked, then deposited Cuddles on the bed.

"And since I won the coin toss…" Pendles grabbed his bag as he got off the ground, then moved over to and plopped down on the bed, handing him a package and a card. "Right, so, this is from our favorite dynamic duo and multi-eyed chaos witch."

After looking between the two, Whiskey chose to open the package first. Inside was a knife sheath made of dark red leather, and a knife that looked like it'd once been some sort of talon or claw, with weird symbols carved into it that looked vaguely like the ones that sometimes appeared with Aurox's attacks, and a hilt so red it looked like solid blood. Grinning widely at the weapon, he opened up the card.

Dear Whiskey,

Heard you lost your knife ("Wait, what happened to my knife?" "Blade broke, dear") and got hurt protecting your girl, and I thought you might like a new one (knife, not girlfriend. The one you have rocks).

Anyway, this gift was a group thing. I decided on the gift, Aurox decided to kill a monster so we could use a claw for a blade. The awesome symbols on it are from him, and he said they basically translate to "flesh tearer".

I MADE THE HANDLE AND SHEATHE! THEY'RE RED! YOUR FAVORITE COLOR!

Get better soon,

Captain Shayne, Aurox, and ORENDI :)

Deande looked at the smiley face next to Orendi's signature, "Is that drawn with blood?"

"Probably," he replied, turning the knife over in his hand. "I'm gonna test this baby out…" he noticed the look on her face. "…as soon as I get a clean bill of health and not before."

Pendles looked like the only thing keeping him from making a whip sound was the fact Deande was kinda scary, and there was a fifty percent chance he wouldn't actually obey.

"Right. Anyways," the defective clone placed the weapon and card on the nightstand, out of reach of the inquisitive dog, "What else you got for me, Pen?"

The Roa grinned and pulled a bottle out of the bag, the symbol of the Rogues on the while label. "Boss said you'd like this." He tossed it at the bedridden badass, who caught it with only a bit of fumbling.

Frowning at the lack of the sound of liquid sloshing inside, he opened it and peered inside. Raising a nonexistent brow, he turned the bottle over so some rolled up sheets of paper slid out. Unrolling one revealed another note:

Foxtrot,

I'm ordering you to take it easy right now. I'm gonna need you in top shape if I want to use you on a mission.

If I were a crueler person, there would be a treasure map. Because I'm nice, I decided to just give you the treasure.

Commander Reyna Valeria, because I'm serious about the order.

"They're music sheets," Deande said, having turned over the remaining sheets of paper. "I heard this piece, once. I look forward to a private performance one day."

"Am I allowed to practice soon, or is someone gonna be watching the piano?" Whiskey asked, mostly joking. She responded by with a smile and a nod while she set the music sheets down.

"Ooh ooh ooh, give him Toby's next, give him Toby's next!" Oscar was all but jumping with eagerness.

Pendles rolled his eye, "He's the only Rogue left, since my gift involved free assassination of the guy who got away."

"So that's why you're the one delivering all this?" Whiskey asked with a grin.

"No, I offered for an excuse to stick around. Now, do you want it or not?"

'Trot,

I'm working on making one for everyone, but you get the first one!

Your friend, Toby.

Toby's gift, as it turned out, was a music box that played one of his favorite tunes. "OMG, it's the Rogues' theme music!"

Deande raised a brow, "Theme music?"

"Long story. This is awesome!"

"He promised he'd make me one as soon as he was done with the rest of the boxes for the Rogues." Oscar then shoved a box into Whiskey's face, "This is from Nova. She thought seeing a recording of Toby telling off General Mike in that simulation would cheer you up, because of how creative his threats and swearing got!"

After taking a second to only be half as surprised by the fact Nova did such things as he thought he would be, Whiskey agreed to let Pendles listen to it with him later, setting it aside with the others.

The next one was a box with two packages inside, with Phoebe's initials on the outer container. "Miko apparently can't really leave wherever they are right now, so they asked Phoebe to come get it," Oscar explained. "And she decided to take whatever Kid Ultra gave you with it. And Miko heard I was coming because she heard it from Thorn who heard it from Montana when he brought it up during their book club, and she suggested Phoebe just give them to me to deliver. You have no idea how many times I practiced saying that last sentence to make sure that all came out right!"

When the box was set down on his lap, Constables Cuddles immediately began sniffing the package with the LLC's logo on it.

"Welp, the dog has spoken," Whiskey said, pulling it out before the canine could try to investigate any further and quickly flipping open the attached note.

Whiskey Foxtrot,

I was proud to hear of your heroic defense of Miss Deande! Please enjoy the enclosed vitamin C lollipops, because you're more susceptible to illness when injured, and now would be a bad time to die of scurvy or the flu. The ragtag band of misfits known as the Battleborn only succeeds with all of the team!

Your Friend and Ally, Kid Ultra.

"Wait, are all the lollipops that robot kid hands out like that? That certainly explains why he keeps pushing them on everyone, and the Rogues in particular." Pendles muttered, having had to explain to him that for his kind, a diet consisting mainly of meat was normal and healthy. The fact that all that fruity stuff just tasted weird to him was a more minor reason.

"Wait, if I remember correctly, Galahadrim don't get scurvy, do they?" Deande asked, raising a brow.

The two clones looked at each other. Finally, Oscar spoke, "We really didn't have the heart to tell him that. And I like the flavors."

"Same." Whiskey said, reaching over to open a drawer to put the health candy in and out of the dog's reach. "Let's see what my favorite sentient fungus sent me."

Miko's note turned out to be inside their gift, a cookbook with a decent number of recipes written in their hand.

Whiskey Foxtrot,

You asked us once if there were any recipes in the Archives.

We believe these can still be made, and should be while there is still time.

Miko

"Well, I know what I'm bringing next time we all get a chance for poker! Well, I don't, but I know where I'm getting it from!"

Before anyone could comment on that, Oscar all but shoved an envelope bearing the seal of Planet Mike into Deande's face. "Sorry, that's interesting and all, but this is sort of a time sensitive thing. I mean, it's kinda for both of you, but it's addressed to you officially."

Whiskey gave him a look, while Deande took it from him and unfolded it, a soft smile appearing on her face as she read it.

"My goodness, Queen Mike has invited me to an upcoming ballet recital on Planet Mike. If I recall that simulation correctly, they practice the Jennerit style; it should be quite interesting. She's specifically asked that you accompany me as my escort."

Whiskey crossed his arms, "And why would I want to go back there? General Mike's wife is the assistant director for that program. He's going to be there, and I'm not putting up with that hypocritical-"

"And your presence is requested so that General Mike may apologize for 'being a jerk'." Deande continued summarizing.

"…fine. I'll go to make you happy and get the apology." He uncrossed his arms and grinned at her, "Guess I have an excuse to wear a tux again."

"Then you better be a good patient so that you're well enough to go," She said. "Which reminds me, I need to change your bandages."

"Aaand we are taking that as our queue to leave you two alone for a while." Pendles started walking to the door. "Grab the mutt, Oscar. Let's go bug Rath."

"Think I could convince him to teach me to use a sword?" Oscar said, following with the dog in his arms.

"Well, having Constable Cuddles with you probably can't hurt."

Deande smiled at the thought of Rath actually giving in because of the dog (he wouldn't, but it was funny regardless), shaking her head as she got up to lock the door and grab the new bandages.

"So… anyone think it's strange that you're looking after the guy you hired to look after your dog?" Whiskey asked as she returned to his side and unwrapped the old bandages.

"To be quite honest, I think their opinion of you has increased, since you managed to hold your own when outnumbered by Jennerit, all to protect one of the people who took down Rendain." Tossing the old ones aside, she began wrapping the new ones around him. "And the ones who might suspect… well, beyond some knowing looks, they haven't said a thing. The guard that we know knows has been asking how you are."

"…you know, once upon a time, there weren't that many people who would care if I got hurt like this," he said, eyes getting misty. "And I wouldn't have people taking care of me like this if they could help it."

She was silent as she set down the bandages.

"And you know," He said, not bothering to reach up to wipe the tears that were forming at the corners of his eyes, "Knowing so many people care… makes the pain worth it. You know, on top of saving you."

The former spymistress climbed onto his bed, kneeling at his side so that he had to look up at her when she cupped the sides of his face in her hands to make sure he was looking at her.

"There are a lot of people who would miss you if you were gone. Many people are happy to know you. They like you, they really like you. And I love you."

He smiled as she briefly moved a hand to wipe the tears from all three eyes. "Yeah, I know. I do, really. It's just… nice being reminded. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And I love you."

Deande smiled, closed her eyes, and bent her head, connecting their lips in a kiss full of warmth and love. Whiskey Foxtrot closed his eyes and let himself get lost in it all as he gently kissed her back, feeling whole.

Notes:

Fun fact, much like other fics I've come up with in the shower, this was fairly easy to write.

Kid Ultra is under the impression that, as space pirates, the Rogues don't get enough vitamin C. They do, they really do.

No, having a cute dog in his arms won't get Rath to agree to teach Oscar how to use a sword.

The theme music is exactly what it sounds like. Anyone actually takes that music and puts it in a music box tune, I will listen to that for days.

Final Notes:

So, you got to the end? Wow!

Thanks for taking the time for all this. This is currently one of my longest fics, and certainly the one with the most chapters.

So, tell me what you think. I'm a little worried that the chapter contents are a little disorganized, but I tried fixing that as I went.

Thanks again for reading!