I try to think about rainbows

When it gets bad

You got to think about something

To keep from going mad

I try to think about big fat roses

When the ship starts going down

But my head is wicked jealous

Don't want to talk about it right now

Long distance

Don't talk about ex-girlfriends

Don't talk about you without me

Don't talk about the past

In my head

It's only in my head

"I'm not kicking you out!"

"I know." Deke laughed. "I'm just going to stay with the guys for a couple of nights so you have space for your family."

"But you're family, too," Genna insisted.

The boy beamed at her declaration.

She shoved him in a most sisterly fashion. "And you have to be back tomorrow morning to get the salon comms and do the shampoos for the first clients."

Deke saluted. "I will return to do my duties, Ma'am."

She gave him a sardonic look.

He laughed again and then sobered. "Unless you want me to stay?"

He phrased it as a question. She'd been questioning herself since she found out that Hunter and Wrecker were going on a mission and leaving the others without their regular berth on the Marauder.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm sure after Echo's blaster lesson I can protect myself and the girls."

Not that they'd need protection from Omega and Crosshair. Her thoughts returned briefly to the item she'd found in her brother-in-law's pocket, but she banished the idea and focused on the present.

"Alright then. I'll see you in the morning."

She waved at him as he walked up the hill and then spun on her heel back into her domicile to prepare it to welcome her guests.

Her Pabu apartment wasn't nearly as large as the one Mollymauk had given her over the salon on Blackhold Isle on Onderon. If she had still been there she could have given the siblings their own room.

The house in Iziz that she had grown up in with her brothers would also have had plenty of room. She remembered the one night that she had welcomed Tech there but on that occasion he had shared her bed…

She couldn't think about that now. Pabu was home. Omega would be set up with a pallet on the floor in the girls' room. They would enjoy the novelty of a sleepover with Auntie Meg. And Crosshair would take the sofa that Deke had been occupying for the past few weeks.

Genna could at least offer them something more comfortable than their regular sleeping arrangements. Although she had been told once by someone that Crosshair had the uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere. She supposed that came in handy for a soldier.

…

Omega showed up on the doorstep alone, with a rather crestfallen expression, not long after Genna had finished making up the extra 'beds'.

She knew it was coming and perhaps it was better that they had a little girl time before her other guest arrived. She and her husband had discussed it even before they had parted: Tech would see to Omega's academic education, and from what Echo had told her, he had done so to the best of his ability. And then when the time came, Genna would instruct the girl in the knowledge that only another female could suitably impart.

It had been a relief, and maybe a little of a disappointment, when Genna found out that there had been another female whom Omega just met who could explain the changes in her maturing anatomy, a sister and a medical doctor to boot. Genna herself hadn't had that. It was pure luck that her friend Mona had started first and had a mother who didn't mind explaining things to both girls at once. But the physical changes were only part of the conversation that needed to happen and for the rest of it Genna would be the better instructor than a clone who was probably, like her brothers, younger than Omega.

Now that Omega had had the chance to see the twins, identical carriers of Genna and Tech's blended DNA, she was bound to start asking questions about how babies, who were not grown in a lab, came to be.

Organizing her thoughts about what and how to tell Omega about the things that went on between a male and female of the human species had only managed to remind Genna exactly how long it had been since she had participated in that particular activity herself. Nine standard months while she was carrying the girls and recovering from their birth and the ten more since she had learned that her husband wouldn't be coming back. There was nothing to stop her really now from indulging in a little casual recreation. That sort of thing had never bothered her before, before her injury, and the surgery, before Tech.

The thing was, now that she'd had a taste of something that was supposed to last, she didn't want to content herself with anything less. And that, she supposed, was what she really needed to teach Omega. Only now that she knew what she wanted to say, Omega seemed to be distracted by something completely different.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Genna ushered her in to sit in one of the chairs at the small kitchen table.

"Well, it's…" the girl hesitated, "Crosshair."

"Crosshair?" Genna's heart skipped a beat. Omega couldn't possibly be aware that his was the image that had most frequently crossed her mind as she was preparing for their girl to girl talk. She wasn't planning on bringing that up.

"He didn't want to come here?" Genna guessed aloud. She could only assume since her sister-in-law had come alone.

"No," Omega answered immediately but then she frowned. "At least I don't think that's it exactly."

Genna prodded her gently.

"I got him to have Azi look at his hand."

"And?" She breathed. That was a different story. Of course she had noticed the tremors but she had tactfully not mentioned it. Genna thought back to her own devastating diagnosis after the siege of Iziz, the news that she would never walk again, much less play the game that she loved and had been sure would be her whole future. She had eventually been given the opportunity of a cure.

"There's nothing Azi can do. He said it might not even be a physical problem."

"Manda," she mumbled. It was obviously a more serious condition than she had thought. But it was likewise obvious that he wouldn't want to bring up the subject. She attempted to give Omega a smile. "Then we won't mention it. We'll just make the best of things and have a nice supper with the girls. How does that sound?"

Omega was a brilliant help preparing the meal, chopping nerf nuggets into small bite sized pieces for the twins to handle with their few teeth and helping the toddlers to spoon mashed vegetables into their hungry mouths.

The time passed pleasantly and quickly before they realized that they hadn't set aside anything for Crosshair and he still had yet to make an appearance. It was nearly the twins' bedtime and Genna didn't think he would take kindly to having a mother nuna coming to check up on him, so again she enlisted Omega to help her get the girls through bath time and into pajamas.

He would come when he was ready, but still Crosshair didn't come.

Omega noticed the bedroll that had been laid out for her on the floor between the cribs. "I can just settle in here with them if you want a break?"

The twins expressed their approval of the idea with squeals of delight. So Genna left the three of them with a story holo and a nightlight and went to clean up the kitchen.

With that task finished and still no sign of Crosshair she thought it might be the right time to have that chat with Omega, only to find all three little girls were already fast asleep.

"Well then." Genna returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa bed she had made up for her truant guest.

She actually glanced around as if someone might be watching her and then immediately felt silly for it as she reached over to pull open the drawer in the side table and lifted out the small print of the painting she had posed for when she was a student at the University of Onderon. She had kept it there after retrieving it from Crosshair's pocket and was still debating if she wanted to confront…

A quiet knock sounded on her front door and she quickly returned the picture to its hiding place before jumping to her feet to answer it.

His hand was raised to knock again when she opened and for a moment they just stood staring at each other.

"I didn't wake you or the girls?" He eventually asked in a whisper.

"No," she remembered her hospitality. "Please come in." She stepped back to admit him but kept her voice low. "Omega read them a story and I haven't heard a peep from them since."

"I left my gear downstairs."

His weapons, he meant. Good, with two curious toddlers, she'd rather not have them in the apartment.

She noticed that the sheet she had spread over the sofa was now slightly out of place so she bent to tuck it back in. "I'm sorry we didn't save anything back from our supper."

"It's alright. You don't have to."

She couldn't stand still. "No, I'll get you something. Do you like soup?"

"That would be… thank you."

He followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table and she could feel his eyes on her while she opened a can and poured the contents into a saucepan and set it to heat on the stove. She glanced back down the hallway at one point checking to see if her rummaging had woken the girls but all was still quiet. So she returned to her task and pinched off a few leaves of an herb that grew in a little window box over the sink.

"I had forgotten that my brother Sav used to add a little bit of fresh basil to his soup until Mrs Levi said something about adding something similar to her recipes." She told him by way of explanation.

He didn't speak, only continued to watch her as she transferred the heated soup into a bowl and set it before him with a spoon.

Then she watched him as he drew up his first spoonful for a taste. His eyes closed and he smiled. "Mmmm, it's very good."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and then turned back to the sink to clean the pot. "Good. I'm glad you like it."

"The food, a place to sleep, I just wish there was something I could do to return the favor."

She debated only a moment before turning to face him again. "There is… something."

"What is it?" He set down the spoon that was trembling in his hand.

She pretended not to notice and instead pulled out the other chair, placed her right foot on it and pulled up the hem of her pant leg to show him the two Aurebesh nines above her ankle. "I had always meant to add to this eventually."

"You want the skull like he had."

"I was told that you did… the rest of the squad."

"I did. But I don't…"

"Oh, I have all the needles and ink," she rushed to explain. "I didn't get the chance to study the technique at the beauty academy on Kuat but I always thought I might like to try. And Deke is interested in learning how as well."

She suddenly thought that perhaps teaching the younger clone might give him something to do. Before she could suggest it though he was rising to his feet as if to get started right away.

"No, please, sit." She admonished him. "I can go downstairs and get everything set up. You stay and eat your soup. You look like you haven't had the chance to finish a decent meal since the war ended."

He smiled as he sat. "Again, thank you."

…

Crosshair attempted to focus on the canvas in front of him. It wasn't as if he had never executed this particular design. He had inked the skull on Tech's chest (from which she had obviously gotten the idea) but Wrecker and Echo also had variations. And before that Hunter had wanted the full skeleton or rather half of it.

The work had already been commenced for him. He wondered if she realized the meaning behind those double digits as she rambled on about her trip to Mandalore to get her first tattoo.

The woman could talk, and he didn't really mind listening. It reminded him a bit of one of Tech's monologues. Maybe that was one of the things that brought them together, although he had no idea how they would have let the other get a word in edgewise. He chuckled at the thought but thankfully she seemed to think it was only at something she had said.

"Kriff, I know, right?" She used more swear words than Tech did. Surprising, considering he had known infinitely more languages in which to swear.

She was now relating how it wasn't until after she had gotten the tattoo that she found out she was pregnant and how she had worried that it may have done some harm to the child. Of course she didn't know she was carrying twins at the time either.

That meant that Tech had also never known about the tattoo she had gotten for him and he would never know about the one she was getting now.

See through my eyes, Brother , he thought again as he had when he watched the twins playing.

He got back to work with the needle but it was a few moments before he noticed that she had gone quiet. He looked up. She was biting her lip and her eyes were closed. Fierfek! She had no right to be that beautiful. And she smelled good, too, a bit like that herb she had put in the soup but also like something else that made him feel…

Her eyes popped open and she looked down to see if he was finished. "I'm alright. You can continue."

"Mm-hm," he agreed, returning to the task at hand but his mind wandered from the leg he was working on to all that it was connected to.

When he had seen that painting of her he had wondered what it might be like to decorate more of her porcelain skin. If he still had it he might be tempted to doodle designs onto the flimsi likeness. No one knew he had it, after all, but where had it gone?

He had found the thing on the Marauder and then tucked it into his vest. Then he had changed out of his escape costume to put on his armor when they went to the outpost on Echo's ship. They had gone straight to Teth after that and then… Then Echo picked them up and they dropped the other clones off on Coruscant and when they got back to Pabu…

"Kriff!" Without warning his hand, which had been curiously steady up till now, gave a jerk, causing the needle to skid in a jagged line above the skull he had nearly completed on her calf.

She yelped and he sprang away, putting some distance between them and rubbing at the offending appendage.

She glanced at his hand and then guiltily looked away, preferring to examine the botch job he had made of her leg.

"It looks good."

He scoffed, incredulously.

"No, really. You were going for the lightning bolt he had above his, elek?" She touched the spot over her own heart drawing his gaze up towards her chest.

"Mm-hm," he gulped and then took a step back towards her to resume the mission she had entrusted to him.

She honestly trusted him.

"I just have to touch it up." He picked up the tool again but it still shook in his hand. And then he noticed the ink on his own right wrist. He had done that himself. So he transferred the instrument to his left hand and quickly finished the skull and lightning bolt design with a flourish.

"There." She had to be satisfied with that. He began to clean up the supplies.

But her voice, when she spoke, didn't sound particularly cheerful.

"I'm sorry. Omega told me about… kriff. Does it bother you much? Of course it must if it keeps you from doing… what you do."

He didn't know what to say, especially when she took the box of implements from his grasp and laid it aside before taking his hand in both of hers.

"There's a technique I learned. Well, I use it on my manicure clients. And I wouldn't have to paint your nails or anything like that, but it might help you to… relax. The muscles, I mean, that are causing the tremors?"

Unsure what else to do he nodded and allowed her to lead him over to the seat where she plied that element of her trade.

"Let me just warm up some of my oils and then we'll get started."

…

It wasn't typically part of the service when Genna traced with the tip of her finger the image of the serpent that had been inked onto his forearm. She was just admiring the artistry. And she couldn't really be faulted for the shiver it elicited that had nothing at all to do with his affliction.

As she continued rubbing the warm, pleasantly scented oil into his skin, she was busy relating the story of when she used to practice her skills on her brothers before she had ever planned on making this her occupation and one or the other of them would arrive at the orchard or market with garishly painted nails. This actually was part of the procedure she had learned at the beauty academy. There had been an entire chapter in the text holo about spa therapy and sharing amusing anecdotes to put your clients at ease. These were to be interspersed with relevant yet benign tidbits of gossip.

Thus she transitioned the narrative to the subject of the last client she'd had sitting in this chair yesterday. "She had obviously been settled on the island before the sea surge because she told me that it was one of my brothers-in-law who had helped her to rebuild her fishing business after lower Pabu had been washed away. And I sort of figured that was the reason that she came to me for the makeover since the boys were going to be around more since they found you and Meg."

"Mm-hm," he indicated that he was still listening.

She liked the deep hum of his voice. It sounded almost like a purr.

"Well," she continued, "I assumed that it was Hunter she was so eager to impress but then when I was getting out my paints she asked me, what was Wrecker's favorite color?"

"It's blue." His lips puckered slightly as he said the word and she found herself entranced by the shape of his mouth as he continued to speak. "We were never quite sure if it was actually the color he liked or the fact that it sounded like something blew up."

She smiled when he did but then she realized that she was staring and her gaze flicked up to his eyes to see if he had noticed.

He did seem to be studying something rather intently but it wasn't her face.

She attempted to follow his line of sight and it was… Manda! She had never considered that if the person sitting across from her at her manicure station was of a particular height it would give that person a rather direct view down the front of her shirt.

Well, she supposed that wasn't the worst thing in the galaxy. He had after all been in possession of that picture of herself even though he hadn't mentioned it. Maybe it was the moment for her to bring it up.

She shifted slightly in her seat and…

"Osik!" She shouldn't have done that. Immediately pain lanced down from her lower back though her right leg.

She leaped from her chair and began to rub at the offending muscle spasm. Not caring about the oil that still coated her hands from his massage.

"Are you alright?" He also rose quickly from his seat.

"Yes, haar'chak! It's just this pinched nerve. Sometimes if I stand for too long or sit," she grimaced, "in the wrong position."

"Could I try something to give you some relief?"

"No," she began but then she really looked at him. He wasn't just arbitrarily offering assistance. "You know of something that might help?"

He nodded. "I trained as the squad's medic. I learned a bit of chiropractic therapy."

He was only offering to return the favor that she had paid him. "If you think it would really help that would be … wizard."

She was still rubbing the back of her thigh muscle while he looked around the premises.

"We'll need a flat surface for you to lie down."

Genna's less than pure thoughts flew to her bedroom upstairs but he was looking at the waiting area where her clients sat before their appointments.

"I believe the couch will be too narrow and plush."

Her eyes fell to the padded mat on the floor that was supposed to help when she had to stand all day cutting hair. She was glad Deke was so thorough about sweeping up. "Will that do?"

"Yes, that should be adequate."

…

Unsure of exactly how best to begin the procedure, Crosshair placed two fingers on her spine and began to trace the path downward. It wasn't as if he didn't know how to proceed. As a sharpshooter who often had to remain concealed in cramped positions for extended periods of time waiting for a target to expose themselves, it was a helpful skill to be able to realign vertebrae into their proper, non-compacted arrangement.

He had been on the giving and receiving end of the technique on multiple occasions. The difference here, however, was that his current subject was not one of his brothers, a fact that was made glaringly obvious by the tremor that ran through his hand that had nothing to do with his own compromised nervous system.

He froze.

"I'm sorry." Genna glanced back over her shoulder. "You probably need me to stay still while you're doing - whatever it is you're doing."

"Mm-hm," he agreed. That would make his job easier.

She adjusted her position ever so slightly and seemed to find a more comfortable situation before she informed him, "alright, I'm ready."

Crosshair nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him, and then allowed his fingers to continue their path towards her tailbone.

He placed one hand over the other, lacing his fingers as he would have over her sternum if he were attempting to restart her heart.

He couldn't think about that. Not the horror of the idea that such a thing would be medically necessary but just the idea of having her here on the floor before him, facing him, with his hands resting between her breasts.

He hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of them while she was massaging his arm a few minutes ago and he was certain she had caught him at it. He had been thinking that they were smaller than when he had seen her on the street in Iziz, yet still beautifully shaped.

At that time she'd been extremely pregnant and her body was preparing to nourish her children. He wondered if she had done so after they were born. She had mentioned something earlier about the twins eating the same meal that she had made for Omega so even if they were originally fed…

The woman on the floor before him started to stir anxiously so before she could address him again, Crosshair gave her tailbone a quick thrust with his joined hands and was rewarded with a series of pops and a sharp gasp from his patient. Then her entire body went limp.

Fierfek! Was she even breathing? What if he'd killed her or at the very least reinjured her spine?

"Gen-Genna are you…"

"Mmmm I feel… incredible, actually."

She squirmed slightly but she didn't ask him to remove his hand so he left it there spreading out his fingers over the small of her back.

"I honestly can't remember when I last felt this good," she continued languidly, pillowing her head on her hands as if she'd be comfortable spending the rest of the night right there on the floor.

Crosshair wouldn't mind a bit, if he could stay there with her.

But she was still speaking. "After not being able to feel anything for so long and then having the surgery and then getting pregnant with the girls so soon after… osik, I won't be doing that again. They told me I shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?" He inquired hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt her flow of speech.

"Carry another baby, Manda forbid another set of twins." She laughed but Crosshair snatched his hand away from her as if she had burned him.

Could she read his mind like some Jedi? Did she know he had just been picturing the way her body had looked when she was pregnant? Did she think he would risk her health by causing her to endure that once again?

She looked back at him over her shoulder with a questioning expression but she didn't ask. She didn't have the chance, because at that moment Omega appeared at the top of the stairs.

The kid did a visual search around the salon before landing on the couple more or less sprawled on the floor by the cutting station. She didn't comment on their position or proximity. "Saviin woke up and I think she needs a new diaper."

"Oh," Genna rose smoothly. "Elek, I'll be right up."

Omega gave a nod and then disappeared again behind the doorframe.

Before the young mother followed she turned back to Crosshair who was also coming to his feet. "I left some blankets on the couch, but I already told you that. And you're welcome to the extra towels in the fresher or if you wanted anything else to eat in the conservator."

"Thank you." He gave her a nod.

"And thank you for…" she cleared her throat, flustered. "The tattoo and everything."

Then she raced up the stairs and out of his presence.

…

Crosshair pulled on his boots and made his way out of the apartment as quietly as possible. The couch had been as comfortable as any place he had ever taken his ease but for now he didn't want to overstay his welcome. And since he hadn't yet had time to consider everything that had taken place last night, he was hoping to get away before he had to engage in any awkward conversations.

The odds of that happening dropped to nil when he ran into the cadet in the salon.

"Sir!" It was the one called Deke. He had been looking at something on the counter but jumped to attention when the armored trooper descended the stairs.

Crosshair waved off the formality. "At ease," he grumbled.

Scanning the premises, he saw that all evidence of the twilight tattoo and midnight manicure had been cleared away.

"I just got here." Well, that answered that question. "I wanted to get the salon all ready to open so Gen wouldn't have to worry about it but it looks like there isn't much for me to do."

"Mm-hm," Crosshair agreed.

"Gen's super nice. Did you and Meg enjoy your visit?"

Crosshair eyed him cynically.

"Of course you did." Deke turned his attention back to the pile of fabric that had been set on the counter near Crosshair's gear. "I think she left something for you. It's got your name on it."

Crosshair was heading that way anyway. He was going to take his things and go back down to the beach to get in some more training. That was probably all he needed to get his head back on straight. But the cadet was right, his name was scrawled on a brightly colored square of adhesive backed flimsi.

And then he understood what the pile was. It was the items that Genna had laundered for him. He didn't really want or need the clothing but there was the other thing.

Giving the cadet a polite nod, Crosshair gathered up his weapons, pack, and the folded laundry. Of course it was possible that the picture had been run through the wash cycle and came out as a soggy mess but he was sure it was more likely that someone had discovered it and… what would the cleaner have done with it? Unless Genna had found it herself.

As soon as he was far enough away from the salon and from the prying eyes of any of the island's other residents, he set down his other items so that he could search the cloth for anything out of place.

It was there whole and undamaged other than one corner that had been bent before he had found it in Tech's locker.

And there she was in all her glory. She had to know that it was there, that she had returned it to him. But what did that mean?

The piece of flimsi trembled in his right hand and he growled in frustration. All he could think of was how he had hurt her when the tattoo needle had shaken in his grip. She had already been hurt by those in her life who had left her.

She couldn't possibly want him, not when he was broken like this, and not just physically.

Omega had something she wanted to try to help him fix himself. Maybe he should take her up on the idea. It couldn't be any worse than this.