Miriah limped the last few steps to the ramp of her ship. Just a few more feet, she thought, and I'll be fine. Her split lip continued to bleed, and she couldn't see much out of her swollen left eye. Just as she reached the ramp, the hatch opened, releasing an angry wookie and her engineer. She thought she'd be able to get patched up before Corso saw her, but no such luck. Just as Bow hauled her up the ramp, she heard Corso's boots behind her.

"Miriah, what the hell happened? You were just going to customs to take a datapad!" He grabbed her up and hurried to the medbay.

"Just get us off this miserable rock, sweetie, I'll explain in a few minutes," she told him. He put her on the medbay cot and took off to the bridge, as Guss started to knit her back together. She was still there when they reached orbit, her eye still swollen but her lip looking better.

"She has two broken ribs that are healing, along with the broken bone in her blaster hand, and a bad sprain in her ankle that I can't do much about," Guss told Corso. "I gave her a little pain medicine, so she's drifting in and out."

Corso stood there with her until she opened her one eye. "Bet I look terrible," she grimaced. "Feel kinda terrible too."

"What happened? I didn't go with you because you said you were just dropping the manifest off, then coming right back," Corso's guilt was evident. He usually went everywhere she did, but she'd asked him to help Risha with a repair while she ran the datapad over, so they could take off when she returned. It had been a very busy three weeks and the crew was looking forward to their off week.

"When I got to the office, I went inside and got jumped. They weren't Imps, just thieves. I killed two of the three, and the third isn't walking too steady," she smirked. Balmorra had been taken by the Republic, but there were still small factions fighting on the war torn planet. She sighed, feeling the effects of the morning and the meds Guss had given her. "Just put in the course for Dantooine, I'm so ready for a week off."

"Do I need to contact anyone on the surface before we jet?"

"No, I told them what happened before I came back." She closed her good eye and drifted off. Corso kissed her forehead before he went back to the bridge to set the navcomp. Risha found him there, pacing worriedly. She reached out to stop him, grabbing his arm.

"She's okay, Corso, you know she can take care of herself. It was unexpected, but no one knows how to survive like our captain." Risha's face softened for a moment, "Nothing you could have done any differently."

He gave her a dark glare as the hyperdrive engaged, and went back to medbay. Guss nodded at his request to take his wife to their quaraters. "She's gonna be a little sore, but otherwise she'll be good as new before long," the medic attempted to comfort him. He carefully placed her on their bed, took off her boots, noting the purple ankle. She opened her eye when he took her blaster and giggled when he sat her up and leaned her against him to take her jacket off. He'd covered her and was about to go back to the bridge when she caught his hand.

"Corso, I'm sorry I upset you. I had no idea what was going on down there, and I'd never have walked in that office if I had."

He sat on the edge of the bed again, gently holding her face in both his hands, "I'm only upset that I wasn't there to watch your back, my love, and that I didn't get to kill whoever hurt you."

"Stay with me?" her one eye pleaded with him, and he went to the other side of the bed, climbing in and pulling her to him. She was asleep in minutes, and he just held her while she slept. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her injured, and he figured it wouldn't be the last, but he still hated it. Just as they dropped out of hyperspace, he heard the holo's chime. He gently pulled his arm from under Miriah's head and got up to answer.

Cole Cantarus looked the same as usual. The Corellian worked for the Republic now, and he and Miriah had done many missions with him. Cole greeted Corso warmly, asking how Miriah was doing.

"We miss you two on Corellia," he said, "I was wondering when you might be back this way?" Corso explained that they were entering their week off, and were headed home. Cole nodded, and told him he had a small mission for them when they brought supplies again, nothing urgent, he explained. As they were about to end the call, Corso told Cole about the incident on Balmorra.

"Hmm," Cole said, tapping keys on the computer console in front of him, "Yeah, I see the report here, the customs official said a Republic privateer saved him from certain death, but didn't mention her name. I assume that's what you were worried about?"

"That, and if the third guy was caught," Corso responded. Cole continued reading then barked out a laugh.

"Said here that they did catch him, he'd snuck into a market and was lying in a container of ice, holding…um…himself." Corso had to grin, Miriah had no qualms about kicking a man in a place certain to get his attention.

"That's my girl," he said, "she said he was hurting when he ran off." They both laughed, and said their farewells. Corso quickly checked on his wife, and seeing her still resting went to the bridge to make sure things were going the way they were supposed to. He'd just entered the coordinates for the hangar outside the ranch when he felt her arms around his neck. Other than the bruising, she looked pretty healed, he thought.

He told her about the call from Cantarus, which made her smile, and that they were about to enter orbit around Dantooine. "Wow, I slept that long? What did Guss give me?" Corso told her he didn't know, but that he was glad she was feeling better. She was standing behind him, still with her arms around him, the feel of her silky hair brushing his neck distracting him when Risha appeared.

"Miriah, you sure know how to liven up a week," Risha grinned at her. "We got the maintenance done while you were kicking ass, so when we get down we can relax and not worry about the ship.

Miriah tried to smile at her friend, but her lip was still tender. Risha handed her a warm mug of something chocolate, and Miriah sipped it cautiously.

"Oh Risha, this is a little slice of perfect right here," she sighed. "Thank you."

They landed at the ranch, and the crew wouldn't let her do any of the post flight and security checks, so she started slowly walking to the house, favoring her right ankle but not too much. About halfway up, Corso caught up to her. She smiled up at him, "You're never going to believe this, but this is home. It's good to be home."

He laughed, looking out over the lush pasture and the small herd of ronto to his right. "It sure is, sweetheart, it sure is."