A Wrench

13: Oops

You're only half conscious when Din dips out of the bed early in the morning. The ship lands in a port, and you roll over onto your stomach, inhaling his side of the flat pillow. A few minutes later, you feel a gloved hand roughly slide up your bare calf.

"Do not open the ramp for anyone under any circumstances."

He doesn't have to tell you twice. You've more than learned your lesson. "Yes, sir." You groan with a sleepy, breaking voice.

He leaves the ship, closing the ramp quickly behind him. And now that he's gone, you can't go back to sleep. The last thing you want is for him to have an emergency and you don't even answer because you're sleeping. But you lay in the bed for a while longer, reliving your embarrassing, babbling display last night.

You take a long shower, happy to have hair conditioner again and lotion for your dry skin. Skin care is a necessity on Nevarro with its dry wind and lava level heat. You get dressed, choosing one of Din's brown shirts and a pair of tight, comfortable pants of your own. You spend a little time grooming your hair before waking the kid up.

He's not happy to see your face instead of his surrogate dad. His tiny mouth frowns at you, eyes narrowing, and he does not reach his arms out for you. You pick him up anyway.

"Good morning, big guy. Do you remember yesterday when we talked about spending some time together today?"

He doesn't respond. You move him to hold with one hand and walk to the little kitchen compartment. "You hungry? Crackers?"

You open up the cabinet, then pause, blinking. "Whoa..." The whole thing is full. All three shelves packed with snacks and dried food and instant meals. You step back and open the cold storage. It too is full of fruits and vegetables, bottles of drinks, and several containers of prepared food.

You snatch a couple fruit, washing them in the little sink, and grab a roll of crackers. The two of you dribble juice down your chins as you bite into fresh, juicy fruit. You'll have to eat a lot of produce in the next few days before it all goes bad. He smiles up at you as you wipe his little chin. He's always much happier after eating. Something you can definitely relate to.

After breakfast, you make him exercise with you so he's not a complete terror the rest of the morning. His little green arms are just too cute to watch stretch to the sky and then down to his toes. But you know better than to ogle over him and treat him like the toddler he seems to be. Mando confirmed last night that there's more than meets the eye. You wonder what it could be.

You search the hull and all the crates and storage compartments, looking for something he can play with besides that little silver ball. Surely, he needs more stimulation. Along the way, you notice several engineering and mechanical issues that you'd like to look at if Mando would let you.

By mid-morning, you're bored out of your mind. And by the constant misbehaving, you'd say the little guy is too. You pick your brain for something to do.

"Oh!" you pop up, hurrying over to your bag in the empty storage along the wall. You take out a worn book, then sit down, pulling the little guy onto your lap.

You open the well-loved book to your favorite chapter and start reading out loud. He listens intently, looking back and forth between your face and the pages. A few pages in, you come to a diagram of the village where the story takes place. He points to it with his yellow nail, dragging his finger along the roads of the map and pointing to the landmark you were just reading about.

Your brows pull down. But you pause your reading. "That's right. The market." And then continue reading, playing it off. How can he not speak, but understand this story? Can he read?