"Alright, bud. Let's see if I can manage to do this without injuring myself," I mutter under my breath as I carefully pick up Poe, who has been asleep for the past few hours or so.
We had landed on Endor early in the morning, spent the entire day planetside, and then left in the late hours of the afternoon (which turned out to be a huge mistake due to our arrival time). Now, it's the early hours of the morning, it's still painfully dark out, and I'm attempting to get out of a tight-spaced cockpit of an X-wing while making sure that my sleeping nephew doesn't fall off of my back.
It's going great.
I carefully climb out of the cockpit of my X-wing, continuing to carry Poe on my back as I make my way down the short extended ladder set beneath me. A quiet sigh of relief slips past my lips once my feet hit the ground and I immediately loop my arms around his legs to keep him up so he doesn't fall to the ground.
Most of the lights in the house are still on and shining bright, meaning I can safely assume that Din and Kes are still up and about doing whatever it is they've been doing for the past day a half that we've been gone. I step up to the front door and gentle knock, waiting for someone to open it up for me. Two pairs of footsteps lead up to the door and the wood slab in front of me soon swings open.
"Well, you look tired as shit," Kes says, smirking while moving out of the way so I could make my way inside. I roll my eyes at his sardonic comment and step into the warm house, shaking off the humid yet chilly air as I walk past him and Din.
You know, regardless of me looking absolutely exhausted, Kes looks like he's doing a lot better than before. Even the air of the house has less of a macabre feeling to it, which is pretty fucking relieving. Whatever they've been up to has definitely been benefiting him in some way.
Din slowly steps up beside me and the gaze of his blank visor lands on my face. I'm surprised to say that he's not in his armor anymore. The only piece of beskar on him is his helmet. It's unnatural for him to be so bare around other people like this, but it's also nice to see that he's starting to get comfortable around my family.
"How was your trip?" Kes asks as I turn around to face him.
"This one"—I turn to the side a bit so they could see the sleeping kid on my back—"fell asleep on the flight back home, but we had a lot of fun while we were on Endor. We just took a long walk around the area, examined some of the flora, climbed a few trees, and met some Ewoks. You know, the usual."
"Endor's like a few days away. How the hell did you make it there and back in two days?" he asks, perking a curious brow.
"Well, I got to build my own engine and hyperdrive when the New Republic issued me my backup ship. Let's just say I didn't skip out on the fund they provided me," I say, winking at him. He laughs and shakes his head as a genuine smile spreads over his face. I look up at Din, wondering what he had done to get my brother in a good mood. "Anyway, I'm gonna go put this one to bed."
"Sounds good," he says, nodding his head towards the short hallway behind me. I pivot around on my heels and walk down the hall, stepping into Poe's room. I place him down on his bed, pulling the covers over him before sitting down on the edge of the plush mattress. I raise my hand and run my fingers through his curls for a few moments.
"It's gone be okay," I whisper, regardless of whether or not he can hear me. I sigh and walk out of his room, quietly closing the door behind me. I walk back into the living room where the boys are and let out a small yawn. "Fuck, sometimes I forget how tiring flying can be."
"You guys should get some rest. Mando stayed in your usual room last night, so I'm sure you two can share," Kes says, winking at me.
"Thanks," I say before letting out another long yawn."You need anything else before we turn in for the night?"
"I'm alright. I think I'm gonna hit the hay too. I've got some stuff I want to work on in the morning," he says, shrugging his shoulders while waving his hand in a dismissive manner. I perk a brow, wondering what he could be wanting to work on at a time like this.
Then again, people cope differently.
To each their own, I suppose.
"If you need anything, just let us know," I say, sending him a knowing look before glancing over to Din. I nod my head towards the room before slowly making my way over to it. My husband bids my brother goodnight before following me, closing the room door behind us. I look at him and immediately realize that the kid isn't in his arms. I furrow my brows and look around the room, not seeing him anywhere in sight.
"He's sleeping in Poe's room," Din says before I can even ask. "Kes had a little bed that he could use during our stay."
I nod my head in response and let out a sigh of relief, happy to hear that Grogu is safe and okay. I fall back onto the bed, closing my eyes for a few moments.
"Tired?" he questions, slowly walking over to the edge of the bed. I smile and let out a light chuckle, slowly opening my eyes to peer up at him. He slides his helmet off and sets it down on the floor near the bedside table.
"How's Kes doing?" I ask, wondering how his time with my brother has been. Din smiles softly and shrugs his shoulders.
"He's okay. Just trying to work through everything that's happening right now," he answers, kneeling down in front of me. He unlaces my boots and slides them off for me, placing them next to his helmet. I let out another yawn and sink further into the soft mattress. "Come on, let's get to bed."
He tugs his shirt off and passes it over to me. I lazily pull myself up and strip down to my undergarments, sliding his shirt on before walking over to the small closet in the room. I slide one of the doors open and grab a pair of loose shorts, sliding them on with ease as well.
"You have clothes here?" he questions. I turn around to face him, nodding my head.
"I used to come here like every other week, so they ended up letting me stash some clothes here in case I ever needed them," I say, shrugging my shoulders while pointing towards the closet behind me. He hums and wraps his arms around my waist, spinning us both around before tipping us both back. His back quickly meets the mattress and he drags me down with him. I rest my chin on his bare chest, meeting his soft gaze.
"You okay?" he asks, peering down at me.
"I'm fine."
"You feeling okay after finding out about Shara?" he continues. I tense up for a few moments, but I quickly relax in his embrace. I stay silent, trying to figure out how to word what I'm feeling. "I think you got caught up in trying to make Poe feel better that you didn't get to even think about it."
I flick my eyes away from his gaze, thinking a few things over before speaking.
"When I showed up on their doorstep like a sad, abandoned loth-cat after my New Republic friends got me back on my feet, Shara welcomed me with open arms," I explain, "Kes was a little shocked about finally seeing his long-lost sister after a couple of decades, Poe didn't understand the weight of the situation, and Shara was the one to make sure that I felt welcomed in their home, regardless of the fact that she barely even knew me. All she knew was that I was related to Kes, and that seemed to be enough for her to offer hospitality in every form."
I let out a long sigh and close my eyes, thinking back to the first time I had met Shara.
She had been the first one to really welcome me back into the family regardless of everything that had happened. She trusted me wholeheartedly when it came to staying in the house and taking care of Poe. She always tried to include me in things whenever we were both free.
Shara did everything possible to make sure that I knew I had a family.
Tears prick my eyes and I turn my head, letting my cheek rest against Din's chest. I sniffle quietly and he pulls me in a little closer. He holds me tight, gently running his fingers through my hair.
"Come on, get under the covers. I'll turn the lights off," he whispers, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead before slowly rolling me off of him. He gets up while I slide under the covers. The room goes dark and Din is immediately back at my side, pulling me into his warm embrace. I tuck my face back into his chest, letting his large arms wrap around my body. He presses a gentle kiss to my temple, lingering in one spot before settling down completely.
He continues to run his fingers through my raven hair, gently working out the knots that had weaved their way into my wavy hair throughout the long couple of days I had. And his gentle gesture soon lulls me to sleep.
-----
"Mae!"
Something roughly slams down onto my chest, making me yelp and awaken with a harsh jolt. I glance down to see Poe practically kneeling on my chest, his brown eyes locking onto mine. My eyes widen and I immediately place my hands over his peering eyes.
"Woah, bud!" I rush out, lurching up into a sitting position while keeping my hands over his eyes. My head whips around on a fucking swivel, searching for any sign of Din and his unmasked face. I silently pray that he isn't around for Poe to see.
Now, that would be a shitty way to break a creed.
I had mentioned a number of times that Din couldn't really show his face and he understood the concept of the whole Mandalorian Creed, but I'm sure the thought slipped from his mind every now and then.
"Where's Mando?" I ask, continuing to search for my husband. He tries to squirm out of my grip, but he doesn't manage to escape.
"He's the one that let me in," Poe whines, finally giving up on fighting against me. I let go of him and he scrambles to sit up on top of my legs.
"Sorry," I say, chuckling a bit while ruffling his hair. "Where exactly did he go?"
"He went on a walk with dad and Grogu," he answers, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh, so you're telling me that I'm the last one to get up?" I say, leaning back and falling back onto the mattress. He nods his head and starts to mess with something around his neck. "What's that?"
"Mom's ring," he mutters, shrugging his shoulders again. He grabs the chain and dangles the connected ring in the air. I perk my brows up a bit and nod my head. I hadn't noticed him wearing it yesterday. We stay silent for a few moments and I can see the slight distant look in his eyes. He shakes his head and looks back down at me. "Can we make pancakes?"
"What?" I question, not even knowing what the hell pancakes are. I'm also amazed at how quickly his mood changed.
"Can we make pancakes?" he repeats.
"What are pancakes?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.
"You know, the things you got me when we went to the base with mom," he says, his answer still vague as ever.
Well, he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with talking about Shara, but I'm afraid that he's just trying to keep it all together before he can't take it anymore and mentally implodes.
I clear my hand and start thinking about the day that Shara and I had taken him to the New Republic base to meet everyone and for him to see all of the different ships and equipment we had lying around. I think back to the mess hall where we had stopped to grab a quick bite before walking around.
"Oh, you mean the things you had for breakfast in the mess hall?" I question, the thought finally clicking in my head. He rolls his eyes and groans as he plops backward, landing on the foot of the bed. I chuckle and sit back up as he slides off the bed.
"Come on! Mom has the recipe somewhere in the kitchen. We just have to find it," he says, walking out of the room without me. I get out of bed and follow him into the kitchen, watching as he sifted through some old papers in a cabinet before going over to the kitchen's datapad. He swipes through it, trying to find the so-called recipe that he had been talking about. "Here."
He passes the datapad over to me and I take a quick glance over the recipe.
"Well, this looks easy enough," I say, nodding my head. "Let's get to it."
I grab all of the ingredients we need, setting everything up in hopes of making some decent pancakes (if that was even a possible outcome with me being the one cooking). I had gotten so used to eating portion packets and the occasional high-class meal in Canto Bight that I had never really taken the time to cook much. I mean, I always helped Shara out in the kitchen, but she did most of the work, if I'm being honest.
"I had a dream last night," Poe announces, catching my attention as I poured the ingredients into a large bowl.
"Oh yeah? What about?" I ask, glancing down at him for a few seconds as I measure out some special flour that Shara had originally gotten from the planet Qillura. She had raved about this stuff for days until she finally gave in and had us take a trip to pick up a few bags of this stuff.
"Me and mom flying in her A-wing."
I hum and nod my head, letting him talk.
"That's it," he says as he climbs up onto the counter. I slide over and help him up onto the counter, waiting for him to settle before going back over to the bowl to start mixing all of the ingredients together. "You think she'd be okay if I had her A-wing?"
"I think she'd love it if you had her A-wing," I say, smiling softly as I turn the nano-wave stove on. I pull a flat pan over to it and place it on top of the heating surface. I glance up at him for a few moments before nodding my head towards the pan. "Come help me pour, fly-boy."
He scoots over and helps me pour some of the pancake batter onto the pan, filling it up with small circles. We set the bowl back down and watch sets of bubbles form and pop within the cooking batter.
"You should flip them," he says, nodding his head.
"Aren't I supposed to wait for all of the bubbles to pop? I thought that's what the recipe said," I say, furrowing my brows while reaching out to grab the datapad.
"Come on, just flip them," he whines, grabbing my arm and pulling me back over to the pan.
"Alright, alright! I'll flip them," I say, but he stops me again.
"I'm kidding," he says, shaking his head. I roll my eyes at him and let out a small chuckle.
"I can't promise how well these pancakes are going to come out if you keep that up," I joke, winking at him while turning back towards the nano-wave stove. He giggles slightly, the usual mischievous look returning to his brown eyes.
We keep working on the pancakes, messily stacking them up on a plate as we try to look for things to add to our breakfast. We find some Jorgan fruit stashed away and after laughing our asses off while playing a game of catch with it, I carefully cut it up into small pieces and dump the pieces into a small bowl to pair with our pancakes.
After turning the nano-wave stove off and setting everything aside, Poe jumps on my back, making me yelp and almost topple over. I immediately link my arms around his legs, keeping him up on my back. He starts climbing up on my back, somehow making his way up to my shoulders.
"Pancake time?" I say, glancing up at him as much as I can. He smiles and hums. I grab both of our plates and he sets his arms on my head, keeping himself balanced on my shoulders. We walk over to the dining table and I do a quick little twirl just to make him laugh before putting the plates down. I do another twirl to make him laugh again, and thankfully, I was successful.
"Woah, did you cook?"
I look towards the dining room entrance to see Kes, Din, and Grogu staring right at us. I freeze as Poe continues to giggle, finding it amusing that not only were we both dizzy as shit, but I had also been caught having fun and being a somewhat decent cook.
"Dank farrik, you managed to make pancakes without destroying the house," Kes says, his eyes widening as his tone drips with sarcasm.
"I would like to let you know that I happen to be amazing at making pancakes... and there's also more in the kitchen if you guys are hungry from your walk," I say, smiling as I help Poe down from my shoulders. He slides into his usual seat and immediately digs into his plate. I chuckle and set my hands on my waist. "Now, you'll have to excuse me for a moment. I have to go get ready for the day since everyone but me is properly dressed."
I quickly slide into my room and rummage through my closet, piecing together my usual get-up. The door opens behind me and I look over to see Din walking in and closing the door. I smile and stroll over to him, rocking up onto my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck. He hugs me back before letting me slip back over to my closet.
"You cooked," he muses as he takes his helmet off and tucks it under his arm. I roll my eyes with a smile on my face.
"Surprisingly, I am a woman of many talents," I joke in a sarcastic manner. I quickly get dressed, working on the buttons of my shirt as I face away from him. He steps up behind me and slowly wraps his arms around my waist, tucking his face into the crook of my neck. I smile and hum. "You okay?"
"I like it here," he mutters, his lips grazing over my skin.
"Is that so?" I tease, nuzzling myself back into him as I rest my arms on top of his.
"I saw a house down the road while I was walking with your brother. Kes said it's for sale," he says, continuing to rest in his timid position behind me. My face flushes slightly and my smile grows a little more.
"That's the house I've been looking at for the past year or so," I say, letting out a light laugh as I turn around in his arms. "I was thinking about buying it."
"Let's buy it," he whispers, looking down at my eyes. I smile some more and shrug my shoulders.
"We should figure out Grogu's training first. Then we can look at buying the house," I say, nodding my head. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips, pulling me in tight. I wrap my arms around his neck, letting him pull me away from the ground for a few moments. He slowly pulls away and sets me back down. "I love you."
He chuckles lightly and dips back down, pecking a quick kiss to my lips.
"I love you too."
-----
"You sure you're gonna be okay?" I ask as Kes pulls me into a tight hug. He hums and nods his head.
"We'll be okay," he says, slowly pulling away from me with a small smile.
"Comm me if you need anything, alright? You've got the Razor Crest code and everything, so don't hesitate to send a message if you guys need to," I say, giving him a careful look as I take a small step away.
"I'll comm you if we need anything, I promise," he says, holding his hand up as if he were swearing on it. I smile and nod my head.
"We should be back around soon," I say, trying to gauge in my head how long we might be gone.
"Sounds good. Stay safe."
"You too."
I start to walk away, but someone crashes into my back. By the tight hold around my waist, I can tell that it's my nephew. I almost fall forward, but I manage to keep myself from tumbling to the ground. I turn around and Poe clings to my front.
"What's wrong, bud?" I ask, looking down at him as he starts to squeeze me even tighter.
"You can't go," he says, shaking his head into my torso.
"Come on, Poe. I've just gotta go do something for Grogu real quick and then I'll be back before you know it," I say, ruffling his curls a bit as I try to get him to look up at me.
"No," he says, shaking his head.
"I'll be back—"
"I don't want to lose you like I lost mom."
Oh, that fucking hurt.
My chest tightens up and I freeze, unsure about what I should even say. I take a deep breath and gently unpeel his arms away from my waist, kneeling down in front of him as I rest both of my hands on his shoulders. There were tears streaming down his face as his brown eyes met mine.
"You're not gonna lose me, alright? I just gotta do something and then I'll be right back," I say, gently squeezing his shoulders.
"Promise," he demands, furrowing his brows as warm tears continue to stream down his face.
"Poe—"
"Promise," he demands again, not letting up with his stern tone.
I purse my lips into a subtle grimace, knowing that making a promise like that was never a smart decision for someone who lives a life like mine. Most days, my life is up in the air, full of the uncertainty of what my next day might look like.
I hold in a heavy sigh, flicking through my options before giving in.
"I promise."
The sigh I had been holding back slips past my lips as I drop my hands from his shoulders. I shrug my leather jacket off and flip it around.
"Besides"—I drape the jacket around his shoulders and pull the collars so it rests snug against his small frame—"I've gotta come back and get my jacket from you."
He smiles softly and then rushes forward once more, hugging me tightly.
"Be safe," he whispers before pulling away and running back over to Kes.
No disappearing, no getting hurt, and no dying.
-----
Word count: 4031
Note: Hey guys! Someone kind of reminded me that it's Friday and I'm supposed to be updating! Some good news to go with that: I don't have to get surgery! Just a lot of physical therapy and such ahaha- Anyway, how are y'all doing? I hope all is well! See you guys next chapter ;)