~Net II~

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"Message for you."

Steel spoke from beneath the panel he was fiddling with, face hidden and arms in the motions of repairing some damaged wires and gages. His legs were stretched out across the grated floor and Net stepped over them as he carried the supply box past, contents clinking when he paused.

The medic didn't bother questioning the sergeant on his ability to tell who he was simply by his footsteps. Steel had always been possessed of an uncanny knack for it...along with knowing when eyes were rolling behind visors at his expense.

"Medical?" Net crouched and retrieved a tool that Steel was reaching blindy for and pressed it into his hand. The sergeant gave a grunt of thanks and continued his work. There was the sound of fiddling with alloy components and a spark from a nicked wire, snapped hot. A muted 'oops'.

"After a fashion. Your nurse lady-friend."

"Emilie?"

"That's the one." He was faceless at that moment but there was a smile to the other trooper's voice which Net recognized and he groaned.

"Tell me you didn't?"

Steel slid out from beneath the panel to blink at him. "Didn't wha-oh." A grin played over his face and he disappeared again, armor scraping the floor and renewed tinkering. He was silent for a while and Net was left to imagine all the possibilities of the conversation and cringed.

"No." Steel finally admitted.

"I don't believe you."

"The Lieutenant said she's off limits."

Net snorted and crossed his arms. That was believable at least. He rearranged a few items in the box as he waited for the message. It hadn't been long since he'd last seen Emilie, only a week, but he was always eager for an excuse to see her again. It had been over a year since they'd first met. The eventful hospital stay and the tangled events that followed. They'd had many lunch and a few holo-video and sabacc dates. Usually just he and Fetcher, but occasionally with Trust and Hatch too.

He'd even brought her to the Med-bay once after months of pleaded curiosity, much to the amusement of the brothers being treated at the time. And obvious disapproval of Shard. Although that had been softened somewhat by her enthusiasm and smiles, and reduced to mere huffs and grumbles by the time she left.

Net grinned at the memory.

"She wants you and Fetch for something. You're to meet her at the usual place, lunch tomorrow."

Steel slid out and sat up, setting down the tool and draping an arm across his knee, regarding Net curiously. "She said it was really important. Any idea what's up?"

The medic shook his head. Really important? "None." He could see the interest in the sergeant's eye, the desire for a distraction, no matter the account, obvious on his face. It had been slow lately and while that was decidedly a very good thing, they were all growing restless from the reprieve. He was also, like many brothers of their task team, always interested in anything concerning the female nurse.

"I'll fill you in when we get back, though."

"You could just invite me along."

"Not a chance."

...

The hospital's cafeteria was busier than usual that day and they had to wait off to the side with their trays, standing side by side and nibbling as they talked before a table opened up.

"I spoke to your sergeant yesterday." Emilie said between bites, happy to no longer have to speak quite as loudly to be heard as where they stood before. "He's really nice."

"Steel?" Fetcher looked horrified, swallowed and grimaced. "On behalf of all of us, I apologize sincerely."

Emilie blinked at him, confused. "What? Why?"

"He didn't make repeated shameful attempts at flirtation with you?"

She tilted her head in thought, then shook it slowly. "No. At least...not by my undestanding."

"Really?" Fetcher looked so genuinely surprised Net chuckled.

"Shard threatened him."

"Oh."

Fetcher took a bite of his sandwich looking very relieved. 'Well, that's good. He has a large collection of rather...outlandish romantic propositions."

Emilie looked taken aback for a few moments, blinking, but settled into a smile. "Outlandish romantic propositions, huh?" She leaned back and let her eyes pan the bustle of the room before letting out a breath, eyes closed and grinning with a shake of her head. "Some days, I think I could do with a couple of those." She pointed her fork at them both before taking another bite. "You tell your segeant, and the Lieutenant, he has my permission."

Net grinned and shook his head, sipping more caf. His gaze fell and lingered on Fetcher.

The younger clone's eyes had widened at the nurse's admittance and passed over her in surprise for a moment, a breath and a blink before the companionable grin had been snapped in place carefully. Net knew that he had been analayzing deeply her words, trying to determine if they were spoken in jest or truth.

He imagined the younger trooper had a mind in the direction of proposals for Emilie himself, had for a long time, although he had no idea if that would ever come to fruition. Like many times before, Fetcher opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it before the words came out. He dug into his plate once again, cheeks a lttle flushed.

"I don't know how he got promoted to Sergeant." Net mused, offering distraction to his friend's predicament.

"He's still alive," Fetcher joked, giving him a grateful look, and they both laughed.

It was cut short when they caught sight of the stricken look on Emilie's face.

"Er, just kidding, Emilie." Fetcher amended. He gave her a genuine smile. "He actually is a really good guy. Very reliable, mission-wise. Gotten us through many a tight pinch. He and the Lieutenant both do a good job of it." He waved a hand between him and Net. "I mean, we're still around. And you know what we're like." He pulled a face of exaggerated pain and embarrassment.

Emilie looked like she was trying not to laugh but finally gave in and Net smiled.

"Steel said you needed us for something important?" Net glanced at her, tidying his silverware and plate and pressing them aside."'Is everything alright?" He had given her a good long pass over when they'd first met up, seeking anything telling or amiss, and he did a quick one again. She seemed ok. But things hadn't been quite what they had seemed with her once before.

"Yes." She gave them both a bright smile as she rose. "I need to show you something." Catching both of their looks she shook her head and a finger. "Something wonderful. Nothing bad. Come on."

There was a shine to her eyes that Net couldn't quite place. Something new. Something had occurred that gave a fresh light to her smile and a bounce to her step. Something that tempered her usual reserve and granted unhindered passion. He was curious, to say the least. They both rose promptly and returned trays to follow the bouncing curls and skirt, exchanging curious looks between the click of heels.

...

They were in a ward Net had never been in before, one with many coded doors and a large check-in station and waiting room filled with many citizens. When they entered the large room of their destination it wasn't like anything he had ever seen or expected of a medical facility.

The space was cordoned off in alcoved areas, the air highly filtered and muted talk and singing with monitoring blips. Soft shadows and gentle lighting above sweeping overlays and hidden vitals stations. It looked as far removed from a medical bay as possible. There were many small, movable bins so tiny Net imagined they must be storage of supplies of some sort, though he was lost by the volume, stumped by what they might be for.

Emilie made a 'follow me' gesture with an arm behind her and stepped softly to a cluster of the bins. She stoppped at the edge of one and peered in, eyes returning to them with a mischievous smile, her curls and cheeks catching the light. She nodded her head for them both to step up and peer in.

Whatever he had been expecting it wasn't what he saw, and his breath caught.

He could hear Fetcher suck in a breath beside him as well, saw him habitually reaching an arm out to touch the contents in wonder. The younger clone caught himself, frozen for a moment, then pulled back swiftly, looking guilty and unsure and seeking permission at once. Emilie laughed softly and nodded.

They were so tiny. Newly born, if Net had to guess. Two boys and a girl by the marks on their charts.

He lifted eyes to Emilie in astonishment. "They're your patients?"

Her answer was a serene smile, and arms unfolding to pluck one of the babies gently from the bin with practiced care. The bundle was tucked in the crook of her arms and the baby within gave a small yawn and unsteady move of his head. His eyes were closed and as he felt the fabric of the blanket touch his cheek he nuzzled it instinctively.

Emiliy chuckled softly, twinkling eyes.

"They are. And it's feeding time." She nodded at the chrono above them and then at a group of seats behind them. "Go sit"

They did as she asked, thinking they were being allowed the chance to watch her feed the little one in her arms.

Net certainly didn't anticipate her placing the baby she held into his arms, and he sat paralyzed as she positioned him for support of the small bundle. He sat looking down at the tiny being in silent and absolute blinking and gaping study.

He'd treated many patients before. Many brothers. And due to his stationing on Coruscant, civillians as well on their missions. Even children. But he had never helped, or so much as touched something so little and his arms felt woefully huge and clumsy, the head dwarfed by his hands. He'd never felt so nervous before. Now he felt it so strongly, he loooked up at Emilie with what must've been visual expression of his feelings because she giggled.

Fetcher looked like he might have laughed at his predicament too, if he wasn't sure that he would be posessed of the same dilemma soon. Sure enough, Emilie stepped away just long enough to fetch the female newly-born and pressed her gently into the wide-eyed trooper's grasp. He let his arms be maneuvered in the same fashion as Net's and then sat blinking in absolute wonder at the tiny treasure.

The movement had awoken the little girl, and when she opened her eyes Fetcher jolted and gave a terrified glance at Emile. But, with her smile, he returned his attention to the bundle in his arms and a small grin of his own curled his mouth after a moment.

Net had watched the exchange between them all raptly, not wanting to miss anything important. When he felt the tug of a tiny fist enclosing his finger tightly he blinked down at the baby in his own grasp in surprise. There were small shining eyes on him now, and an expression as encompassing and curious as he imagined his was.

"...Hey, little guy..." he whispered, not really sure what to say to a baby. He found himself lost in the liquid blinks and he simply sat taking the being in his arms in for a while. The tiny fingers and fraglity of the small frame. He felt weightless. Soft, and warm.

He could hear the tiny hitched breaths, rapid and shallow, and was at first alarmed, but after he had put an ear to the frail chest for a few moments and watched the small face, his ears and eyes told him it was normal and he let out a long breath of his own. The little flower-petal mouth was opening and closing and toothless gums being rolled over by a tiny tongue. Net had seen a few little ones with an incomplete set of teeth before, but never a mouth without any at all. He found it both bizarre and immeasurably cute. The desire to run a finger over the miniature bumpy gums was strong, but he knew without asking it wasn't a good idea. He settled on staring a bit longer before his gaze fell to the tiny fingers curled on his own and he studied those carefully too.

Beside him Fetcher was just as transfixed, absorbing as always, memorizing the feel and looks of the little one in his grasp. He grew bold after a few minutes and ran a finger gently down a fragile arm, then placed a thumb against the tiny palm and grinned wider when the little fingers grasped. When his thumb was released after a minute, he ran fingers over the fabric of the hat which covered the tiny head.

They were each so lost in their observations they were caught off guard when Emile pressed bottles into their hands.

They both stared at the unfamiliar objects with a degree of uncertainty. Of course they knew what they were, and had the general idea of how they were used. But to actually do it, to be the one placing in that little mouth seemed a daunting task. There had to be a right way and a wrong way to do it, and they were afraid to do it incorrectly.

They watched closely as Emilie took up a seat between them and began to feed the babe in her arms with ease and an encouraging smile. Beside her the two troopers mimicked as best they could. Thankfully the babies seemed to know the what and how of their feedings for the most part, and took the bottles relatively easily.

Net's eyes were glued to the tiny being as he ate, who lay eyes closed and content drinking, all of his trust in the man feeding him. It was a strange, swallowing feeling. Proud, to have someone so marvelously exquisite and special trust him so absoultely and completely. He met eyes with Fetcher briefly and saw the same feelings there.

They both stole intermittent glances at Emilie, watching her for a few moments at a time, transfixed by what they saw.

Net had always found her pretty, wide eyes and shining curls and rosed cheeks, but there was something in the way she sat now, head tilted softly to one side, eyeleashes panning her cheeks, a small serene smile on her lips as she clutched the little one to her chest. There as a breath-catching beauty to it, and he traded glances betwen her and his own charge. When his eyes flicked again to Fetcher he could see the same recognition of something that felt too unearthly and precious for the likes of them, and something neither of them had ever imagined theyd get to take part in.

There was a magic to it, to this act of normalcy of life which they were a part of and protected, but which hadn't ever quite been theirs to experience.

"What do you think?" She asked once her baby had finished his bottle and she pressed him to her shoulder, making small circles and pats to his back. The little one let out a tiny 'burp' at the actions.

"I think that's adorable." Net admitted. Emilie's nose crinkled in companionable adoration and she mouthed the words 'I know, right'.

Net opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't quite find the words he wanted to say, so he just shook his head and smiled. She caught the messsage.

Fetcher was still feeding the baby in his arms. She seemd to have a preference for small breaks of looking around before tucking in again. Emilie looked over at him.

"Credit for your thoughts?"

Fetcher glanced up at her then back to the baby and grinned. "I was just thinking...it makes you feel kind of special, doesn't it? Being relied on like this. It's a good feeling," he mused, staring down at the girl, bottle held back, waiting for the cue to place it in her mouth. His eyebrows knitted. "Also, she's so tiny. How are you not..." he glanced around the room at the other nurses and parents caring for their own armfuls before looking at her. "How is everyone not afraid? Is it just ingrained? I mean...in normal people?"

Emilie chuckled. "You're as normal as anyone, Fetch. I havent see anyone in here not timid the first time. It took me a while to get comfortable with it."

Net listened in, his thoughts drifting to Kamino. This was all as foreign to him as the sterile halls of the water-world would be to these little ones. They had been decanted at an age where they had been fully capable of walking and feeding themselves, even if they were new experiencs at first and had to be matched with the flashed learning received while in the vats. They had never experienced this-the meeting of the world without pre-programmed knowledge and small grasping fingers and blinking eyes without recognition of what they saw or grasped. He tried to imagine what it woud have been like to have been born that way.

To have been cared for so completely and lovingly and...slowly. That's what it felt like, slow in comparison, when he tried to put a hand on the time of his birth and the moments after, everything was a blur. Voices and techs and uniforms and order and bright. There had been no soft lights and songs and rocking arms. No time of just...being. From the moment they all stepped from their vats with new bare feet to cold tiles beneath analyzing eyes, they had something to do or accomplish, some criteria to master or meet.

Having never experiened anything like those being cared for here, in this way , he couldn't accurately say he missed it. And he understood with time constraints and the volume of his brothers why nothing like this would have been feasible.

There was just the wonder of it. Of... if. If it had been like this...would there be a lessening of the feeling of the missing humanity they all seemed posessed of? That had been the confession of many a brother he'd treated, a musing whisper between bunks. The looks in eyes of his kind as they watched others going about their lives on Coruscant, watching over, helping, saving, guarding, waiting, but never quite belonging.

A couple entered the darkened room, slipping into the shadows from the hallway that now seemed blazing from dim-adusted eyes. Their gazes sought and found the area where Net and Fetcher and Emilie sat and their faces lit as they approached.

Net had finished feeding and set the baby to his shouler as Emilie had done. She placed a hand over his to make his pats firmer, then turned at the sound of the couple nearing and beamed up at them.

"He's just eaten." She swiveled and gave a smile at the baby in Net's arms and he realized that these were the parents. He brought the baby back to his arms in a position for handing him over, cheeks heating, suddenly feeling very much like an intruder.

But the woman gave him such a grateful and loving look he coudnt help the small smile that touched his mouth in return as he passed her her son. And he felt relief to see that she took him with some small amount of caution and uncertainty as he had.

He watched as she brought the tiny face to her own to nuzzle, and how the father placed an arm around her shoulders, smiling down at her and their baby over the top of her head. They stepped away to another seat in the corner and both sat.

Emilie placed the baby from her arms into Net's and he sat once again, attention caught between his friends, the new baby, and the couple a little ways a way. He tried not to make it too obvious, but he watched with true interest as they interacted with their baby. The looks on their faces, the way they smiled and held the small being close to their hearts. When the soft, whispers passed their lips and how they sat and gazed with deep and open affection at their son.

At last the baby in Fetcher's arms finished and they were both loathe to return their bundles to their beds when the time was up, although they conceded when Emilie had asked if they wanted to take part in the diapering. They both raised hands in surrender and stepped back and watched, still not fully understanding how she wasn't overcome with fear at the handling and cleaning and dressing of such tiny limbs.

They had said farewell to Emilie at the door a few hours later, crinkled eyes and small, quick hugs. An unspoken thanks that probably couldn't have been put fully to words anyway. An over the shoulder glance at the three little bins across the room, and then a long look and traded smiles with a friend who had given them more than she realized.

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I had the idea for this chapter as I was writing the first Net chapters, but didn't get to writing it out until now. I thought it'd be neat to let them see what normal care and nurturing looks like for little ones. I might be wrong, but I don't think there was likely much of it on Kamino. I also have no idea if/what NICU centers might look like in the Star Wars universe, but imagined something similar to ours. Both of our kiddos spent time in the NICU, and it and the nurses within will always have a special place in my heart.

Also, a small peek at Steel. He'll be showing up again in The Moonlight Soldier story at some point. He has a different dynamic with his squad than Lex with his. He trained with Lex and Shard on Kamino and is almost the polar opposite of Lex. While Lex keeps his squad in line, Steel's boys kind of do that for him in certain regards.

On to Fives next. It will be from his, Rex's and Fox's perspectives. And from then on Chapters will just have numerical titles.

Sorry for the lag between updates! It might continue for a bit. I'm working on getting kindy lessons written for this coming year. Determined to get them done before we start the year this time.

Cozzizzie and TGP: Thank you guys. I hope you liked this one. So fluffy!