The streets were far quieter in this part of the city.

Steam rose from vents all around them, as Din and Lysa walked, with Grogu following close beside them in his hover pram.

As usual the neighbourhood was not the most welcoming. With most of the residents who lingered in these streets, staring Din down as he went. Obviously keen to know what a Mandalorian was doing in this part of town.

Because of this, Din kept one hand close to his blaster as he walked. And under the other arm, he carried Lysa's basket full of ingredients they had purchased in the market not ten minutes ago.

The trio had walked in what had been a comfortable silence the entire way here.

But the closer they had gotten to Lysa's apartment, the more Din could see her face change to one of nervousness and worry.

Din was certain that the Marshal and the Peacekeepers would have checked the apartment to make sure Crix was not holed up inside. But even so, Din kept a wary eye out for any sign that something was wrong, And if he even got a sniff that Crix was nearby or even inside, he wouldn't hesitate to shoot him on site.

He had been foolish last time not to finish the job.

This time he would not make that mistake again.

Rounding the corner, he felt Lysa take a nervous step closer to him as they caught sight of the door to her apartment directly ahead, sandwiched tightly between two other doors on either side.

Not for the first time, Din remarked on how dismal and poverty-stricken this part of the city truly was.

Just to their left was an unturned trash can and on their right were two unkempt looking men sitting on a step smoking pipes, the pungent scent of stale tabac drifting into Din's nostrils, despite his helmet covering the entirety of his face.

It was certainly not a nice place to live. And Din knew that Lysa deserved far better than this squalor.

He only wished he had met her years before now, long before Crix Val'shif had entered her life.

It wasn't the first time Din had dwelled upon this thought. Picturing what their life would be like now, if they had met at a far younger age.

Would Din had chosen a life beyond chasing bounties? Would he have denounced the Creed for the sake of a life with Lysa?

Perhaps they would have had a home somewhere, together? Maybe they would have settled down? Had children perhaps?

Din swallowed hard now, trying to force thoughts such as these from his mind. A dream was all it could ever be, surely?

Arriving at the doorstep, Lysa punched a code into a panel on the wall (an old fashioned entry system Din noted - certainly not efficient for home safety in this part of town) and the door slid open.

Lysa stood there for a moment as Din and Grogu lingered just behind her, but she made no move to enter.

From his angle Din could just about make out her worried-looking eyes flitting back and forth over the entryway.

She looked terrified once more, and Din didn't doubt the memories, that being back here, were likely causing to resurface.

"It'll be ok," said Din suddenly in a gentle and reassuring voice, suddenly climbing the small step that led up to the doorway so that he was level with her.

He stared her way, as she turned her head and looked up at him.

That all encompassing fear, evident on her beautiful face.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said with a shake of his head.

Lysa parted her lips to speak for a brief moment before closing them again, and giving a nod, turning back towards the door.

A second later she stepped over the threshold, heading into the tiny apartment as Din and Grogu followed.

A small narrow hallway led sharply into a small living area to the immediate left. And Din had to bow his head to duck under the coving of the low ceiling as he entered the room.

Lysa stared around, her face unreadable.

It was obvious straight away that Crix had been here. And it certainly looked as though he had left in a hurry.

A couple of chairs were upturned, clothes lay strewn across the room and a large metal cabinet lay on its side.

Lysa walked over to a small storage bureau on the far side of the room, opening a drawer to find it almost empty.

"Crix…he's been here…his clothes are gone…" she remarked in a hollow voice.

She didn't look up at Din now, merely wandering back into the centre of the living space, picking up an upturned and cracked blue vase as she went.

Din gazed about subtly, noting at once how small the place truly was and how much Lysa had put up with living here, with absolutely no space from Crix.

The apartment itself was almost circular in shape, with white washed stone walls and no windows or natural light of any kind.

Two small armchairs sat beside a narrow fireplace. And to their right, nearest to Din was a small wooden dining table.

On the far side of the small room he could see an unmade bed, partitioned off by a curtain. And on the other side was a small kitchen, even smaller than Din's back in his cabin. It was remarkable that Lysa had managed to bake and run her business out of a kitchen that small.

It was a very compact apartment, and as much as Din could see that Lysa had tried her best to make it a home, with a plant here and a throw cushion there, there was only so much that could be done to make a dingy place like this look nice.

Din chanced another glance at her to find her gazing about, worrying at her lip.

A woman like her didn't belong in a place like this.

Lysa to him was a light in the darkness of this world. Like the sunshine after a long harsh winter.

To Din she radiated that light from every fibre of her being. And for Crix to have kept her here in the darkness of this house, wilting like a flower with each day that passed. It almost tore Din's heart clean in two.

He watched now as Lysa moved over to a small object lying on the floor, bending over and picking it up.

Din moved over to her now, watching as she turned, what looked like, a rounded, now-broken terracotta jar over in her hands, staring down at it, a deep, pained frown grazing her brow.

"He's taken it all," she said, in what was barely a whisper, letting out a heavy, defeated breath.

Din took another step closer to her, as she turned slightly and looked up at him.

From here he could see that there were tears glazing her eyes, shimmering in the artificial light of the room.

Her face was a picture of sadness and aching hurt, that Din wished he could take away now.

"I've been saving credits…I didn't think he knew where I'd been hiding them…" she said in a quiet voice, shaking her head as a tear slid down her cheek.

She swiped at her cheek quickly, removing the tell-tale sign of sadness as if ashamed.

Lysa gazed down at the pot in her hands once more.

"I told you about my parents. On Naboo," she said, glancing up at Din once more. "Well they had this little shop. They sold bread and cakes, and people used to come from so far to buy from them."

Lysa gave a smile now. It was soft and sad.

"And then-" she stopped suddenly, giving a swallow, as if the pain of such a memory was too much to bear.

"I always told myself I would do the same one day. Set up a bakery of my own. A real one, with a store front and a little viewport and everything."

She gave another hopeful smile up at Din now.

"I'd been putting credits aside for years, saving almost everything I could afford. And then, last cycle, I finally had enough for a lease on a little shop on the other side of the city."

Happiness and elation at the memory, grazing her tear-filled eyes.

"But when I came home to get the money, Crix told me it was gone. He'd spent it. I don't know what on. Probably gambled it away."

She pursed her lips together now as Din stared at her, hurting on her behalf.

"I was angry, obviously. But he found a way of turning it back on me like he always did. I think he broke my jaw that time…" she said with a small sniff. "Or maybe my ribs. It kind of all just blends into one after a while."

Her eyes finally met with Din's. And it was though the realisation of how horrible and tough her life had been really began to become visible to her now. Her face etched with a painful sadness, that Din would fight anyone in the galaxy to ensure he would not see again.

"Then a few months ago I started to save credits here and there where I could again. There wasn't much, but…." she gave another swallow. "...Crix obviously knew where I'd hidden it."

It was obvious how much she was hurting now. Her dream stolen, yet again, by Crix Val'shif.

Not only had he taken years from her life, keeping her frightened, beaten, bruised for so long. But he had taken any hopes of her bettering herself, away from her. Time and time again.

The more Din thought on this, the angrier he felt.

For what kind of man would treat anyone the way Crix had treated Lysa.

The sheer amount she had put up with.

And yet even now he was still impacting her life, her future.

Sniffing hard once more, Lysa placed down the broken jar before swiping at her cheeks with both hands.

"Sorry," she said quickly, with a shake of her head. "It's just….hard. I worked every day, and I'd come home aching and yet all I could think about was that some day I'd own this tiny store. Bake my own bread, and people would come to me to buy it, not me delivering to them."

She tilted her head, sending her golden hair cascading over her shoulder like a waterfall of the purest light.

"It doesn't matter," she said, her cheeks flushing as her eyes flitted to Din, who had stood there wordlessly for the entire time she had been been speaking, Grogu hovering at his side. "It's just…I honestly…"

She pursed her lips now, her green eyes penetrating Din's behind his beskar without her realising it.

"...I just…I wish I'd killed him."

Her words were stark and serious, as she gave another shake of her head.

"I know I probably shouldn't say that, but…..what he put me through…" she frowned hard, looking suddenly angry. "...and I just….I put up with it because he told me it was what I deserved. But it's like now I can see for the first time…like I was in a fog and now I can see again. When I was with him I felt like a ghost….just existing but not really there. It sounds stupid-"

"No it doesn't," said Din, suddenly saying something for the first time since the trio had entered the room, causing Lysa's eyes to soften slightly.

She took a step closer to him, closing the gap between the pair of them now.

"Thank you, Din," said said taking a deep breath. "For just…listening."

Suddenly, and without another word Lysa pressed herself into him. And it took only a second for Din to react back, his beskar-clad arms snaking their way around her, as he tugged her to him, tucking her head beneath his helmeted chin.

And like that they remained for a short few moments as Grogu peered up at the pair of them giving a loud and interested chirp.

And Din knew that he could easily remain like that forever if he could.

With Lysa in his arms.

A feeling tugging at his heart. All encompassing now.

But a moment later, Lysa pulled away and turned from him, moving over to the partition that divided off her bedroom.

"I'll go collect some stuff," she uttered quietly.

Five minutes later, with a small leather pack now full of essential clothes and personal items, Lysa stood at the tiny kitchen counter.

"I think I'm all done," she said, giving a nod, doing up a leather buckle on the front of the pack.

Din marvelled at her. He knew that despite the tears that had fallen and the anger that had been in her voice, she had coped well with being back here.

He only hoped now that they would find Crix sooner rather than later. Wanting this to all be over. For Lysa to be able to move on with her life, without the worry that Crix was hiding around every corner, looming over her.

But although Din knew that Crix being found was the main priority. He also knew that that would mean that Lysa would likely return here. And selfishly, Din enjoyed having her so close to him. He could see a life with her, in that cabin with him and Grogu.

But he quickly shook himself. It was a foolish dream. Din needed to remember that Lysa was not his.

In fact, she was no one's.

No one's property.

She was her own woman. No longer controlled as she once had been. Free to do whatever she wished, with whoever she wished.

Lysa lifted the heavy pack over one shoulder, lingering near to the kitchen and gazing around, giving a visible swallow.

Her green eyes seemed to linger a little on the nanowave-cooker, standing proudly in the centre of the compact kitchen. Staring at it almost yearningly now, perhaps dwelling on the fact that yet again Crix had taken from her that chance to follow her dream. Denying her her own bakery for the second time. Something she obviously wanted more than anything in this galaxy. Just the way she looked when she spoke of it, as though lost in a wondrous daydream she never wanted to leave.

And it pained Din to think that, were it not for Crix, that she would be running her own little store right now in the city.

Content.

Happy.

And Din felt another tug at his heart, knowing full well that no matter what, that was all he wanted for her.

Happiness.

Be it with him or not. That was what he truly wanted for her above anything else.

"We should go," he uttered in a low voice through his modulator, as Lysa dragged her eyes reluctantly from her oven.

She gave a nod.

"I'm ready," she said, staring up at him.

And as Din looked back at her, it was as though something had changed in her now.

As though coming back here today had made her see what her life truly been like. How cruel and unfair it had been, and how much she had gone through over the past few years.

And now it was as if a line had been drawn in the sand.

Marking the end of her old life.

And allowing space for a life from here on in.

A determination set on her face.

And as she walked to the doorway leading outside, with Din and Grogu. She looked back one last time, putting this life of pain and hurt behind her, for good.

Walking out of the door and out into the sunlight of the Nevarro streets a stronger woman.

Finally free, at long last.

Thanks to J-James, GraysonGirl13 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter.

Sorry that was a bit of a filler chapter but very necessary.

Please review! :)