Wanting To See Miguels Fangs.

wanting to see miguel’s fangs.

hands cupping the skin of his cheeks, with the smirk pulling at your plush lips he already knew what was happening, feeling equally embarrassed no matter how many times it had happened, with a coo you speak. “cmonnn, let us see those fangs,hm?” a grumble leaving his mouth as his lips part just enough to see his sharp fangs. “i’ll bite you.” he warns, an empty threat…unless you asked for it. “and paralyse me? no chance.” you snap back in a ‘matter of fact’ way.

thumbs going past his lips with a smile, sharp fangs on view as his red eyes rolled for what felt like the hundredth time. “dios mío.” he groans, voice stupidly muffled by your fingers in his mouth. “shut up you’re gonna spit on me!” you whine, tilting his head up to get a pretty view of the pearly white canines. you had always had a thing for his fangs, wether they where deep in your neck or just subtly on view in a form of intimidation.

“you’re the one with your fingers in my mouth!” he snaps back, words still obviously muffled, trying to keep the spit to a minimum. “but papi,” you smile innocently. the nickname shutting him up real quick, the heat running to his usually stone cold cheeks unavoidable.letting his fangs fully come into view as his talons extended to maximise the ‘experience’ which he only tolerated for the sake of his amor.

finally pulling your thumbs out of his mouth after humming in appreciation. you where like his sweet little dentist, always helping keep those canines as bright and shiny as possible. wiping his saliva on the side of his suit he groans with a “really?” you respond wittily of course. “well it’s yours isn’t it?”

leaning his head up he presses his lips to yours in partly spite, partly love. pulling back breathless after a couple of seconds with a sneaky. “now it’s ours.”

he always had to have the last word.

Baby Crosshair doodle

me when I reach the angst part of the angsty fic that I specifically chose for the angst

GUESS WHO'S BACK

Safe Place

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Prompts -  'The safe place you created for me, all those years ago, that's where I call home.'

If you were to ask anyone in the galaxy who would be the least likely person to become a dad many people would have said Han Solo, especially if you asked who would be a dad to a baby girl. Han himself would have told anyone who asked that he was in no way equipped to raise a daughter, the idea alone was enough to terrify him, how could he ever raise a girl?

And yet somehow here he was, standing in the medcenter staring down at this beautiful, small baby girl that somehow fit in the palms of his hands. His eyes were watery as he stared down at you, almost like you weren’t real, and he could feel the fear that seemed to run through his whole body but somehow the fear was being drowned out slightly by the absolute and unyielding love he felt for you. 

It was an overwhelming experience, feeling so much love for somebody who had only been alive for a few minutes. To know that he would do anything you wanted, anything you asked without a second thought, to know that he would burn the galaxy down just to keep you safe and you couldn’t even do anything yet, he hated to think just how much you’d get away with once you could speak, once you knew just how much power you held over him, once you knew that you had him wrapped so tightly around your tiny little finger.

How did somebody like him make something as amazing as you?

Of course just because he felt this much love for you, just because he knew he would pull the stars from the sky for you it didn’t mean he was suddenly confident in his ability to raise a daughter, if anything feeling this love for you only made him infinitely more terrified because you deserved the whole galaxy and he didn’t want to mess that up, he didn’t want to ruin you. 

He was out of his depth, give him a blaster and a dangerous situation where the odds of surviving were slim to none and he was fine, he excelled in that. Give him the most precious baby girl in the whole galaxy and see how quickly he would crumble.

The first time he remembered being terrified when it came to you was when you were five years old. An absolute angel who was too curious for her own good, always getting into things you shouldn’t if left unattended for more than ten seconds.

One day Han had left the room to grab you some juice, he had been out of the room for less than fifteen seconds when he came back to see you with his blaster that he knew damn well he had placed out of your reach, how you had managed to get it Han didn’t know and didn’t even stop to question it.

All he felt was fear unlike any he had felt before and his blood turned cold as he ran over to you and snatched the blaster away from you, hating how you looked up at him with wide, watery eyes and a quivering lip. He couldn’t do anything, he felt frozen in fear and just about managed to grit out an order for you to go to your room.

He watched you leave the room with tears sliding down your face but he didn’t move to follow you. Han reached up and rubbed his forehead with his fingers, staring down at the blaster and mentally telling himself to hide the weapons away safely, apparently it wasn’t good enough for them to just be out of your reach now.

He waited five minutes before he left the living room and made his way over to your bedroom. The door was open halfway but he couldn’t hear you in there and felt a pit of guilt in his stomach, hoping he hadn’t scared you when he had snatched the blaster from you but he had been terrified, needing it out of your hands immediately.

If he thought he felt fear when he saw you with a blaster it was nothing compared to the fear that spread through him when he saw your bedroom was empty and that you were nowhere to be found in the house, despite him and Chewie searching the whole place and the grounds. 

Of course the one time you go missing Leia has to be off planet with the damn droid.

It wasn’t until he was doing another sweep of the house, passing by the hangar bay that he had already checked that he heard a noise that caused him to pause. He took a few steps back and stood in the doorway before his eyes landed on the Falcon, the door was closed but that noise had definitely come from inside it.

Dammit, he thought to himself. 

You knew you weren’t allowed on the Falcon by yourself, only if he or Chewie were there to supervise you and you had always followed the rule. No matter how desperate you were to board the Falcon you always waited until either of them could take you or just dragged one of them along with you so you could sit up front in the cockpit and pretend to pilot the ship.

Feeling some of his fear slip away he took a deep breath and made his way over to the Falcon and down towards the cockpit. His heart ached as he saw you in the pilot’s seat, his seat, curled up with tears still running down your face.

“C’mere,” He murmured softly, walking over to you and picking you up just enough for him to slide onto his seat and settle you down on his lap, smiling down at you as you curled into him and gripped his shirt whilst wiping your face into it. 

“What are we doing on here, huh?” He asked you, keeping his voice soft and low as he tilted your face up towards him and wiped your tears away. 

“Mad.” Was all you mumbled before hiding away against his chest and he felt himself completely soften, torn between cursing himself for acting so rashly he had scared you but also not regretting his actions because seeing you with that damn blaster had terrified him more than anything he had faced before.

“I’m not mad at you, sweetheart.” He told you, chuckling as you shook your head, “I’m not, really, just seeing you with that blaster scared me, you know it’s not a toy.” 

The two of you stayed there on the Falcon for longer than Han could recall, curled up together in the pilot’s seat long enough for you to fall asleep in his lap and Han to carry you back to your bedroom, tucking you in securely and pressing a kiss to your forehead before leaving to safely lock up the weapons.

That day seemed to have created a tradition of sorts somehow. Whenever you were sad, whenever you were scared or overwhelmed or just needed a safe place to calm down you always made your way over to the Falcon. Han never panicked anymore when he couldn’t find you, he knew all he had to do was go to the hangar and he’d find you curled up in his seat.

He remembered the fight you had with Leia, you must have only been around nine or ten. He remembered looking away from her down at you and just wondering how someone so little could hold so much anger and it wasn’t the typical anger you’d expect from a kid, nothing like temper tantrums you’d thrown before when you couldn’t make sense of your feelings. It was genuine anger, you had started showing signs of being able to use the force and Leia had wanted you to go to Luke, wanted you to be trained under her brother so you could control it.

Han hadn’t given an opinion, he’d been asked but he refrained from telling Leia how much he hated that idea, how much the thought of his little girl being sent away felt like his heart was being torn out of his chest.

Luckily for him, your distaste for the idea was loud enough to speak for Han too.

Han had known for a long time you could use the force, once the fear had left him over seeing you with a blaster and you were fast asleep he had time to think about it. He knew he hadn’t left the blaster within your reach and that there shouldn’t have been any way for you to reach it…not unless the force was involved. From then he had seen different instances of you using the force, a toy just out of reach, a cookie on the counter, a piece of meat on his plate after yours was long gone and your plate held only vegetables, no problem you’d just float whatever you wanted over to yourself.

“I don’t wanna go!” You yelled, angry tears making their way down your face and it took everything for Han not to intervene, to put his foot down on this topic and tuck you away but he knew Leia only wanted what was best for you.

“Y/N,” Leia started, her voice firm but soft but you didn’t give her the chance to speak, you let out an angry huff, already knowing exactly what she was going to say considering the conversation was just going around in circles. 

Instead of staying to listen to it you stormed out of the living room, shoving past Han who turned to watch you stomp down the hallway and made your way down to the Falcon, knowing full well your dad wouldn’t let you be alone for long but he’d give you long enough to yourself that you could calm down a bit.

“All that anger isn’t good.” Leia said softly, causing Han to finally look away from the empty hallway and back at her, a frown on his face as he shook his head.

“She’s a kid who doesn’t want to leave home. Just because she’s frustrated now doesn’t automatically mean she’s going dark side.” Han told her, tone almost dismissive in the way Leia hated when she tried to talk about something serious and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“There’s always a chance.” She told him, looking away from Han and off into the distance.

“No there’s not,” Han replied, tone hard and leaving no room for Leia to disagree with him, no room for Leia to doubt you. “She’s a good kid.”

And with that he too turned to leave the living room, leaving Leia sat alone to ponder the best course of action though it seemed to be two against one. Han made his way down the hallway, down towards the hangar, something he was sure he could do in his sleep with how often he followed you down here. 

It wasn’t long before he made his way through the Falcon and stopped to knock on the frame of the entrance to the cockpit, smiling sympathetically at you, the familiar sight of you curled in his seat still managed to warm his heart no matter the situation or how many times he had seen it.

You didn’t say anything, didn’t look up, just continued to stare out of the window at the closed door but Han didn’t let it deter him. Instead he walked in and picked you up, just as he always did and settled you on his lap, his arms wrapping around your waist as you tucked yourself under his chin.

“I don’t wanna leave.” You mumbled brokenly causing him to frown. 

“Then you’re not going to.” He told you like it was that simple and it really was, if you didn’t want to leave Han wasn’t going to force you. He was going to keep you around for as long as he could until you got too old to be spending time with your dad or hiding away on the Falcon.

“But mom said-” You began, tilting your head to look up at him but he cut you off with a smile and shake of his head.

“Don’t you worry about your mom, just leave her to me.” He said, giving you a wink that caused you to giggle and it was like the mood instantly shifted and felt a little lighter. 

Maker, he’d do anything to hear that sound instead of listening to your cries.

Han’s heart hadn’t stopped beating wildly in his chest, so loud he could hear it in his ears, almost deafening and yet you stood there rolling your eyes at him and in that moment he had never felt so unequipped to be a dad. 

“I don’t even know why you’re making such a big deal out of this, I didn’t even go that far and I’m fine.” You told him, gesturing down to yourself as if to prove your point.

“You stole the Falcon, Y/N!” Han snapped back at you, fury taking the place of the fear that had coursed through his veins at seeing both you and his ship missing. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that you and mom never let me leave and I am so tired of this place! You go on adventures all the time and you never let me go with you, forgive me for wanting to see more of the galaxy!” You snarked, rolling your eyes again in a way that made him want to grab your shoulders and shake you until you realised just how reckless you had been, just how terrified you had made him.

“You can’t even fly the damn thing yet, could’ve gotten yourself killed.” And that was the thought that played on a loop the entire time it had taken him to track you down, his blood running cold as the thought refused to leave. 

Sure he’d given you plenty of flying lessons but not enough for you to take the damn ship out yourself.

“I can fly it better than you.” You shot back, knowing damn well it wasn’t true but wanting to say anything to annoy him even more at this point, unwilling to see it from his point of view, unwilling to apologise when you’d had such an amazing afternoon in a faraway village, surrounded by all different types of people.

“Kid, we both know that’s bantha fodder. There’s a reason you don’t go off on your own, you’re damn lucky to be standing there right now.” The words had you rolling your eyes again at him, and Han clenching his jaw, a disbelieving scoff leaving your lips and you shoved past him, leaving the room, and heading down to where Han had landed the ship not long ago.

Han let you go, the two of you both needing time to calm down.

It was times like this he felt so unequipped to be a dad, so completely out of his depth because on the one hand he knew you had always longed for more, longed to jump in the Falcon and search the whole galaxy. Despite your words Han had actually taken you on more than your fair share of adventures, nothing too dangerous but he couldn’t resist seeing the look of joy on your face as the Falcon made her way across the galaxy, watching the wonder on your face as you saw all kinds of species and the pride he felt when he watched you interact with them, always so polite and friendly.

On the other hand though, they’d witnessed so much, they knew there were still people out there that would love the chance to hurt them and you out alone in the galaxy was the perfect way for someone to get back at them.

He knew you understood that but he also knew you were a kid who took after the rest of her family, knew there was something more for you out there. He hoped you’d never be forced to be something more than you were, hoped that everything they’d done would be enough for you to live your life freely but the fear of something bad, something dark was always lurking in their thoughts.

Enough time passed to the point where his heart was no longer in his throat and he couldn’t hear each thump in his ears. For the first time in years, for the first time since you were a five year old little girl, he hesitated on his journey down to the Falcon, doubting for the first time that that was the place you would choose to hide away in. 

He’d always figured that eventually you would stop using the ship as your safe place, always tried to ignore the thought and the ache in his heart but couldn’t now that he thought it was actually happening. He couldn’t help but remember the last time the two of you took refuge there, couldn’t help but regret the fact he hadn’t held you tighter, hadn’t held you longer.

Still he made his way down the familiar path and felt a weight fall from his shoulders as he saw the door to the ship wide open, couldn’t help but smile despite the fight as he made his way to the cockpit to see you curled up on the seat, taking a second just take in the familiar scene just in case the day was drawing nearer that you didn’t hide away here anymore.

He made his way into the room, taking a seat on the arm of the chair and looked down at you, hating how you hesitated before meeting his eyes.

“I know you’re a tough kid and I know you can handle yourself,” Han said, tone showing how much he believed his words causing you to relax slightly, no matter how bad the fight was between you and your dad it was like being in the Falcon raised a white flag and you both agreed not to bring it onto the ship. “but you know why the thought of you out there scares the hell out of me. I can’t lose you, kiddo.”

If your eyes were a little watery, well it’s not like your dad hadn’t seen you in worse states but you still leaned forward, burying your head against his stomach as he wrapped an arm around you, leaning down to press a kiss to your hair and if he held you a bit tighter, well who could blame him?

The two of you stayed on the ship for the rest of the day after that, neither one of you wanted to leave the safety she offered and when it came time for bed you ended up in Han’s cabin, you tucked under his chin and Han was more than happy to hold you.

When the Falcon disappeared it felt like a large part of you had gone missing too, after the dark side had gotten a new leader, after Uncle Luke disappeared, blaming himself for letting one of his student’s turn to the dark side of the force, after your mom and dad went their separate ways, after the First Order had begun their attacks…all you wanted to do was hide away on the Falcon, hating that you had ever wished for something more, for an adventure. 

Now you were by your mother’s side, commanding armies and watching people you had come to care so deeply for die on a regular basis. There was nowhere that had ever felt more like home than the Falcon did and not having her around anymore saw you pushing your emotions further and further down and bottling them up tightly.

Today felt particularly bad even though nothing major had actually happened. Some days the weight of everything that was happening just felt like too much. You heard that your mom was back on base and headed outside to greet her, needing a distraction from the thoughts running wild in your mind. 

You didn’t pay much attention to your surroundings, only enough so that you could avoid X-wing pilots who ran back and forth across the base, barely avoiding getting your feet crushed by the BB unit you knew to be Poe’s causing you to tilt your head, laughing fondly as the droid knocked into people before crashing into the man he was looking for, Poe just as excited to greet the droid.

“Hey kiddo.” A voice said to the side of you, a voice that caused your head to snap around, gaze locking onto your dad before looking past him, feeling your eyes widened at the ship that stood behind him. “I brought her home.” Han said softly, watching your frozen frame and seeing the exact moment your brain started working again. 

Tears filled your eyes as you let out a slightly manic laugh of disbelief, head shaking as if you couldn’t believe your eyes before you ran to meet your dad who easily caught you in his arms, winding them around you and holding you tight against his chest, one hand coming up to cup the back of your head.

“You got her back?” You mumbled into his chest but he heard you clearly anyway.

“Sure did, kid.” He smiled, a weight falling from his shoulders as he had you in his arms again. 

You don’t know how long you stood wrapped in Han’s arms for but eventually you pulled away and smiled up at him, his hand moving to cup your cheek and bring your foreheads together. With everything going on lately it felt like heaven to not only see your dad again but for him to have brought back the place you truly thought of as home with him.

You moved away from him and took a cautious step over towards the Falcon, almost as if you expected it to disappear, causing Han to smile fondly at you. It only took a few steps, Han following behind you, until you were in the Falcon and the feeling of home overwhelmed you, memories assaulting your mind as you looked around, letting your fingers drag against the walls as you made your way further into the ship, stopping when you stood in the doorway of the cockpit.

If you thought stepping into the Falcon itself was overwhelming it was nothing compared to stepping into the cockpit. You never thought you’d be standing in here again, never thought you’d be able to find a moment's peace like the ones you had come to love in here. Somehow even despite everything going on outside, being in this room made it easier to breathe.

You didn’t realise the tears were pouring down your face until Han pressed a hand to your shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze pulling you out of your frozen state and giving you the push you needed to step foot into the room, instantly feeling better. 

Your fingers danced along the back of the pilot’s seat as you made your way around it, sitting down in the seat with a soft sigh. Han smiled over at you as he made his way into the room, taking his place on the arm of the chair, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you close, you cuddling into him without a second thought, feeling like no time had passed between now and the last time you were in here.

Of course time had passed and you had somehow found yourself fighting against the dark side, found yourself giving orders out despite being completely unequipped to handle the job and yet it was easy to block out all of that when it was just the two of you in here, easy to forget how messed up things had truly gotten. Han, like you, never thought he’d have this moment again, never thought it’d just be the two of you curled up together on your seat in the Falcon but here you were. 

There was an exhaustion that ran deep in his bones at the thought of another war. He had no idea what was going to come in the next few days, next few weeks and months. He had no idea when the next time he’d be able to sit in here with you again would be, hell he didn’t even know if there would be a next time and that thought sent an ache through his chest and caused him to pull you closer to him, his grip tightening on you like he was afraid to lose you.

“I love you, kiddo, you know that right?” He asked you, he needed to say it all of a sudden, looking down at you and smiling shakily as you looked up at him, eyes still filled with tears but you looked less tired, like this was exactly what you needed and he was glad he could give it to you.

“I know,” you murmured softly, smiling up at him and nodding, watching as his own smile widened and he let out a small huff of laughter, “I love you too.”

Yeah, Han didn’t know what was coming next. He didn’t know who was going to live to tell the stories of this war and who was going to die fighting.

Whatever happened next he’d do it for you, he’d do it for Leia. He’d given you your home back, brought her back to you and knew that if nothing else, if anything were to happen to him, he knew you’d at least have a safe place to deal with it.

Amore - Part I

Part 31 of Starstruck

Summary

Echo and you return from the supply run and become part of an unexpected celebration. Senator Chuchi pays a visit to the clone underground and Echo gets his time to shine.

Rating: Teens and Up

Word Count: 5826

Warnings: jealousy

AO3

”Home Sweet Home” Echo smiles at you when you see the familiar shape of Coruscant. You smile back and enjoy the view of the beautiful man to your left.

Echo chuckles.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“Mh…not yet” you giggle, lean over and kiss him.

“Now you do” you say with a twinkle in your eye and keep on kissing his cheeks.

“Mh…I need to contact the traffic controller and get a vector to start the approach and land this shuttle…” Echo mumbles.

“I’m sure you can find a holding point…the others will be grateful if you let them go first…” you whisper between kisses.

“I’m gonna bust the deadline to return the shuttle and we’ll have to pay another day” Echo responds with a husky voice. “It would be a waste of our resources and...”

“I’ll pay for it…” you murmur.

Echo laughs lightly and slowly pulls away.

“I can’t allow that to happen. But I’ll make up for it. As soon as we’re back at your place we’re gonna pick up where we left off…OK?”

He runs his scomp along your cheek and down your neck.

“I hate your karking discipline” you answer with a smile, the trace of his metal still cold on your skin. Echo winks.

“No, you love it. You love my karking discipline.” He grins and reaches for the radio button. Shortly before he gets there he stops. “…and my karking scomp. You love that too.” Echo gives you a suggestive grin and quickly activates the comms to get in contact with the space traffic controller.

You land directly at the hangar of the rental company and are picked up by Gregor to get back to the hideaway of the clone network.

“Hey lovebirds!” he shouts out loud and Echo raises an eyebrow at him.

Gregor starts the engine while you throw your bags in the back of the vehicle. Some droids will take care of unloading the supplies and will get them to a storage.

Echo gets to the front with his brother while you get in the back.

Gregor leans back towards you.

“You won a date with Sarah. Need to get your brain checked after the time travel thing.”

You give him a surprised look.

“Word spreads fast” Gregor adds. “You know how it is.”

You nod and take a mental note to be careful with what you do or say before you have an idea which indecent stories the bullshit brothers already made up about your time there.

“And Rex wants to see you” Gregor says in Echo’s direction.

You sigh. Looks like it will take some time before you can pick up where you left off.

“How are you doing?” Sarah’s friendly eyes are on you while you lay down to be examined.

“My headache is gone and I’m just a little tired and dizzy now and then but it’s getting better” you answer, trying to play the whole thing down. “You know Kix did a scan like this right after I got there.”

”Oh great could you travel back in time and ask him to transfer the data to me?” Sarah asks jokingly.

You give her a look and scoff. “Alright, alright, I'll do the tests again” you finally say, not without rolling your eyes.

”You know we don’t have much data about the effect of time travel on the brain…” your friend states. “But I can make a few general assessments about your physical condition. Besides it will be interesting to see the results, add another piece to the puzzle and compare it with the data of other known incidents of this kind.“

“Well great, sounds like my case makes an amazing peer-reviewed paper“ you respond with a chuckle. “So I take it everyone here knows about it?”

Sarah sighs.

“Well yes…it came up in the Monday briefing. Normally Gregor covers for Echo in his absence but he was indisposed and Fireball took over…”

“Say no more” you groan. Sarah giggles while she keeps on running scans. “Do I want to know what indecent rumors they came up with?”

“Probably not” Sarah answers and types on the datapad. “So…how was it?” she asks tentatively.

“What do you know already?” you ask her back.

“I know that you were on Coruscant, met the 501st and witnessed something that only Rex knew about which made it likely that you did, in fact, travel through space and time.”

You take a deep breath.

“Yes…”

You know the obvious question and decide not to wait for it.

“And yes I met Echo…you know the Echo he was before…before all that happened to him” you tell her openly.

“And how do you feel about it?” Sarah asks and stops typing at the datapad to give you her full attention.

“It was…confusing” you answer. “And it…I don’t know if that makes sense to you at all but I feel bad because I couldn’t save him from that mission that…changed his life. It hurt to see him, this sweet innocent naive boy and know what’s ahead of him. And it was strange to see him knowing that this is the boy my Echo was before he became the Echo I fell in love with.” You swallow. “I haven’t quite sorted it out in my head.”

“He was really worried about you“ Sarah replies. „I’ve never seen him this way before.“ You nod.

“Yeah… I know. The supply run brought us closer together, maybe not the way the others hoped when they left us the honeymoon shuttle but…on a different level.”

“And how was Rex?” Sarah asks curiously.

You laugh.

“Rex was…pretty much the same as we know him. He had fewer lines on his face but…he was a proud father of..well a lot of children. No wonder the bullshit brothers aren't much of a challenge after the chaotic boys he had under his command by that time” you reply with a grin.

Sarah chuckles.

“That is hard to imagine but it does explain why he always keeps his cool. Speaking of the bullshit brothers – I'm sure Nemec and Fireball are dying to see you and there will be a big gathering in…Sarah checks the time “…twenty minutes so why don’t you go see them? We can do the rest of the tests later.”

You tilt your head and give her a curious look.

“Gathering? What for?”

“You’ll see…” Sarah answers with a mysterious smile. “Oh but you’ll need to wear something more festive!”

“Festive…?” you reply. “I just hopped out of the shuttle and it’s not like I took something festive with me on a supply run.”

“Don’t worry” Sarah answers with her signature smile. “I have some spare clothes in my closet.”

She moves over and takes out a classy black satin shirt.

“I think this will fit nicely…”

You look at her wardrobe and the impressive selection of backup clothes in it.

“Erm…why do you…”

Sarah laughs cheerfully. “You really don’t want to know how often people puke at me…and that always happens when I have somewhere to be afterwards.”

You stare at her and are somehow grateful that you chose a more…sterile profession.

Sarah giggles when she sees your disgusted face and you laugh about yourself, shake your head, turn around and quickly get changed.

“Aaaaaamooooreeee! Amoreeeeeee Mioooooo!” you hear someone sing loudly in the little shop when you leave Sarah’s office. You don’t need to see who it is - while the clone voices are essentially all the same there is only one of them who has enough bullshit energy in his head to flood the hallway with his poor imitation of a Venetian gondolier without ever having been close to the Solar system, let alone Earth or Italy.

“Aaaaaamooooreeee! Amoreeeeeee Mioooooo!” Fireball keeps on singing from the top of his lungs without hitting a single note.

“Fireball, I told you a hundred times it’s Re...” you hear Nemec but he stops when he sees you.

Fireball is cleaning his already shiny vembrace and tries to remove an invisible stain from his armor.

“Is your armor clean for a change?” you ask instead of saying hello.

Fireball looks up and smiles brightly.

“Ah look who’s back from the dead!” He drops his cloth and gives you a big hug. You chuckle.

“I was never dead…”

“If you had stayed in the past it wouldn’t have been any different for us” Nemec replies.

“Did you meet us?” Fireball asks curiously. Nemec rolls his eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you that we were on Kashyyyk by that time?”

Fireball rolls his eyes back.

“Well I guess it’s better this way. You know…” he wraps his arm around you and gets very close – close enough for you to smell his aftershave, something he normally doesn't wear for work. “It‘s hard to believe but I looked even better back then. You probably wouldn’t have returned if you had met me.”

You chuckle and get yourself out of his grip.

“Sure Fireball…so…tell me, what’s all that singing about Amore about?”

Nemec and Fireball exchange glances and it takes a suspiciously long amount of time until one of them answers.

“Oh erm…that's because...erm because of my future bride from Pantora, you know” Fireball answers. It sounds like a low pull-out but you are too curious to get into that and giggle.

"Oh…have you made any progress with senator Chuchi?“

Fireball gives you a confident grin.

"Not yet but she will be here today and I won’t waste that chance.“

"She’ll be here?“ you start to feel a little uncomfortable because…well because of her feelings for Echo. You haven't met her in person since you and Echo got together and there’s no way this is not going to be weird.

"Uh-hum“ Fireball answers, his mind obviously fully occupied with his advances towards the senator. You feel Nemec's eyes on you - he can see you feel uncomfortable. You quickly continue to keep the conversation going.

"Why is she here?”

Nemec and Fireball look at each other again. This is getting more and more conspicuous…

“You’ll see” Fireball replies with a mysterious smile that seems awfully similar to Sarah’s, just like the wording.

"Ah come on, give me something!“ you plead. You’re not sure whether this is the kind of surprise you’re going to like.

“OK…just because it’s you…and because we’re friends" Fireball replies with a grin and looks to the side to think about his words. "So it is an important event - otherwise the senator wouldn’t be here - and Echo will play a very important role but he doesn’t know yet. And above all there will be free booze and food. I‘m pretty sure you’re gonna like it.“

You listen to the words and don’t really share your friend’s enthusiasm. In fact you’re beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Only Echo and you know about Chuchi's feelings for him and the whole setup together with their secrecy sounds very dubious. Knowing that clones often don’t know much about normal standards of society doesn’t help either. You’re a little afraid of the answer but you know you have to ask…

“Please tell me you didn’t plan a surprise wedding after you got us the honeymoon shuttle“ you groan. "You know people should consent to…”

“No that’s not it” Nemec interrupts you and chuckles. "You know we have a lot of bullshit in our heads but that would cross a line, even for us.”

“Speak only for yourself” Fireball replies.

You give him a little puff. You are still not convinced that you're gonna like whatever is happening but at least you ruled out your biggest worry.

The gathering takes place at a hangar right next to the clone underground‘s old industrial building. It’s not really the newest and shiniest hangar you have ever seen which is probably a good thing in terms of keeping a low profile. To be honest you never realized it was there...you never really wondered what was in the vicinity of the clone underground‘s base in general and it was all good as long as it was abandoned but you are sure that Rex and Echo knew about it all along, probably even chose this specific building for the clone underground because of the hangar next to it and the possibility to expand.

Nemec and Fireball enter before you and mingle with the other clones.

In spite of the worn and shabby outside – OK and inside – of the hangar you can feel a change, a ceremonial atmosphere. The hangar is dark in the back, there seems to be a force field to hide what can be found there. In the front you see a stage with a microphone at a lectern and in front of that high tables, champagne glasses, even some snacks. Some are still being set up by a few Pantoran aides.

And then you see her.

Senator Chuchi.

A rare guest - her heavy schedule doesn’t allow her to be here in person that often and her presence would increase the risk of being found out, not only by the Empire but also by the yellow press - the paparazzi would love to get something compromising about Mrs. Perfect.

You muster the senator’s perfect dress - several layers of flawless silk, purple and blue with golden brocade, not a single crease, not a single stain, perfectly ironed, perfectly worn. Her blue skin softly shimmers in the lights of the hangar, her long dark eyelashes bring out her big golden eyes.

And then there’s you. Jeans and the shirt Sarah borrowed you so you don’t have to show up in your sweaty t-shirt from the trip, dark circles under your eyes from the aftereffects of the concussion and the time travel. You look like shit.

Sarah waves in your direction and signals you to come over. You tear your eyes away from the senator and walk towards the high table with your friend. She looks at you and grins.

"Jealous?“

You roll your eyes.

"I know I don’t have to be jealous but…can’t she at least have…a pimple or something?“ you complain.

Sarah chuckles.

"Maybe she has one on her rear. A really nasty huge whitehead filled with...“

"No…“ you interrupt her.. "I don’t even wish that for her, I‘m just…being stupid.“

You groan about yourself. It's not like you are particularly proud about your indifferent feelings for the senator.

"You know it’s funny...” you start with brutal honesty “…as soon as I hear something that even remotely resembles body shaming I get really mad and dogmatic but she can’t change that she’s beautiful like that either and still a part of me judges her for it. I know it’s wrong but I can’t…I just can’t feel differently.“

“Well that's probably because you are a real bitch” Sarah answers and chuckles. “Just kidding. At least you’re aware if it.“

The senator finishes her conversation with one of her guards, picks up one of the trays with snacks and walks towards Rex. It doesn’t take more than three steps for an assistant to rush to her and take the tray off of her hands. For a second you see frustration flicker in her eyes - a senator is not supposed to carry around trays, there is dedicated service personnel for those kind of tasks. It is not appropriate for someone in her position and it doesn’t matter that she wanted to go where the tray had to go anyway. She probably never actively signed up for having her ass wiped all day but it’s the price she has to pay to be in a position of power.

Come to think of it it is really remarkable to have her here with her entourage, fully dressed up, knowing exactly that there will be no press release, no fame, no votes gained with what she’s doing here - she is here because of what she believes in, paying the clones her respect. She probably doesn’t have many appointments of her own choice - the vast majority will be mandatory events with people she doesn’t care about to talk about agendas she cares about even less. And with the press waiting for her to slip, look tired, misspeak or talk to someone a little too long or do anything else that would be worth a headline.

You don’t envy her.

She may be in a position of power but it comes at the cost of her personal freedom.

The senator moves on to Rex and they start to talk. The tray with the snacks has already arrived at the high table next to him. You can see with how much respect they treat each other. You are lucky to have political support like that.

Echo approaches the two and gives Chuchi a formal nod. He has changed and looks breathtaking with the black and red kama around his hips. She gently puts her hand on his shoulder and gracefully lowers her gaze before she looks him in the eyes.

You hold your breath.

She‘s touching him…

She's touching your man.

Gently.

You grind your teeth.

How dare she touch him in front of your eyes.

But suddenly you realize - their eyes meet only shortly and there is this awkwardness between them that you only see when one confessed their love and the other didn’t return their feelings. It is just a fracture of a second but you know Echo too well and observe the senator too closely to miss it. It is just a friendly greeting and none of them wants this to become more awkward than it already is but they are professionals. And Chuchi…again…can’t afford to let any feelings affect what she is doing. She can go home and cry about her heartbreak later and probably she will but now she‘s a senator playing her role.

You remember Echo‘s words. "I need someone with an edge.“

He chose you.

Your jealousy leaves for sympathy. No, you really don’t want to walk in her shoes.

You watch Echo, Rex and Chuchi exchange a few sentences before Echo leaves the stage and walks towards the group of clones. He puts himself in position.

"ATTEN-SHUN!“ His loud voice cuts through the air, confident, loud, clear, commanding respect.

Immediately all conversations stop and the clones stand at attention. Echo swiftly turns around with military precision, faces the stage and lifts his chin up.

This is him.

The man you fell in love with.

The disciplined soldier, the man you looked up to from the moment you met him.

He may be your partner, the one you tried to convince to get into a holding pattern to have some sexy time in the cockpit before you land.

He may be the man who always makes breakfast for you.

He may be the man who was afraid you could have had an affair with his past self.

But he is also - and always will be - the man who makes you starstruck. The perfect soldier, determined, loyal and precise.

You allow yourself to swoon a little bit and miss the first words Rex has been saying into the mic.

"…thank the senator for the generous gift of this event. And I‘m not only talking about the booze and the buffet…“ The civilians and a few clones allow themselves to chuckle, a clear sign that even though the troopers are standing at attention the core military standards are more relaxed now that they are no longer a part of the GAR.

"…but also for something much bigger than that. This day is nothing less than a cornerstone in the history of the clone underground.“ Rex pauses dramatically to give his words some weight. Sarah looks over to you and winks at you with a smile.

"But I don’t want to steal senator Chuchi's show…senator?“

Rex makes an inviting gesture and leaves the spot at the lectern to Chuchi.

The senator puts her hand over the microphone and quietly asks Rex an inaudible question. He gives her a reassuring nod and she lifts her hand from the mic again.

“Please…stand at ease” are her first words before she starts her speech. The clones loosen up a bit and put their hands behind their backs.

"My dear friends…“ Her soft yet fierce voice echoes in the hangar.

"…I am very grateful to stand before you today and be able to finally see all of you in person again.“ Chuchi pauses shortly before she continues.

"My political efforts for your rights and the rights of all your brothers continue to be the most important part of my daily work. I could convince a growing number of parties from all over the galaxy to support this very essential human rights topic. But I have to be honest with you - our progress is slow, very slow, and almost as quickly as we gain supporters we lose them because people bow down to the intimidation of the empire.“

The senator lowers her gaze and shakes her head to show her regret.

"The practical hurdles also proved to be more challenging than expected and our lawyers have a hard time getting a grip on legal issues like the question about reparations for years of work without wages versus the cost of life and training the republic provided versus the lack of a free choice of your profession. Drafting up a waterproof and convincing basis for questions like these takes time.“

The senator‘s look changes from that of a politician into that of a fighter.

"Time we don’t have! Time many of your brothers don’t have because they are held captive as insurgents because they refused to follow illegal orders. Time the clones who are with the empire don't have because they don't have a free will and every day the chip forces them to act in a way they normally never would. Time none of you has because of your accelerated aging. Time is against us. We can’t wait for years until a political solution takes effect, we need to act now!“

The senator takes a few breaths and lets her eyes browse over the crowd.

"Three weeks ago a Pantoran patrol found a former mining ship hidden at a remote dwarf planet in our solar system. It was occupied by pirates who used that place as a basis between raids to perform modifications. A member of the patrol who captured the pirates is a confidant of mine and immediately realized its value for the clone underground. According to the books this ship was decommissioned and scrapped two weeks ago - but I can assure you it’s still in one piece.“

Senator Chuchi gives her adjutant a nod and on the push of a button the visual force field is deactivated and a huge ship is revealed in the back of the hangar, professionally showcased by perfect lighting of a dozen floodlights. A murmur goes through the members of the clone underground and you gasp when you begin to realize what is actually happening.

Rex has a confident and proud smile on his face. The senator looks over to him and once the murmuring has left for curiosity about her next words she continues to speak.

"This is the Remora. We named it after a fish you can find at different places in the galaxy that harbor aquatic lifeforms. Two of these places are Pantora and Kamino, giving the name context from both our homeworlds. Remoras are fish who leech onto bigger fish, sometimes also ships, to accompany them. This specific Remora…“ she points at the ship "…can extend a bridge and leech onto docking ports. But there is more…“

Senator Chuchi looks over to Rex and steps aside to give him the floor again.

"The pirates turned the escape pod into a leech vessel that can be attached to other ships and breach their hull. The transformation has not yet been completed and there are other works on the ship ahead of us but it will be feasible to finish them with our resources. Once operational it is the perfect ship for stealth infiltration, insertion and extraction missions like rescuing clones from prisoner transports.“

Rex smiles brightly with confidence and looks every one of his man in the eyes, gives his words some space, lets them understand what it means.

You feel a tingling in your stomach when it dawns on you how huge this development actually is. This ship offers a thousand possibilities for the underground, independence from the shuttle rental service and way more space and flexibility. Given its size it could even provide housing for every member of the clone underground if they were found out on Coruscant and it would still be almost empty with everyone living on board.

You begin to understand what this has to do with Echo - he will probably spend the next weeks drawing up tactics and strategies for its effective use, concepts of operations, required refurbishments and also plans for secondary effects like a probable increase in numbers of the underground - partially by having rescued prisoner join them, partially by getting more supporters because of the strong symbolism of this ship's very existence.

"Now Echo, would you please join us?“ Rex asks. Echo immediately follows his former Captain‘s request but you have the feeling that he doesn’t know what Rex is up to. Maybe he wants him to give a passionate speech on the fly, something Echo is incredibly good at. If someone can electrify the masses it’s the war hero, the only former ARC trooper at the underground, the embodiment of never giving up and unparalleled determination.

You realize that your face already has a smile on it - you are really looking forward to see Echo in this role again, see him enthrall the audience after he just stumbled out of the shuttle with you.

Well it seems it was good you couldn’t convince him to spend some sexy time with you at the holding point - they all would have waited for you.

Echo marches up to the stage with sharp military precision and finally stops to stand at attention facing Rex, perpendicular to the audience. You admire his beautiful prominent nose, the nose he pressed against the most sensitive parts of your body so often. You just love his profile…

'Lucky me‘ you think and soak in this moment.

Rex chuckles. "At ease.“

Echo relaxes a bit but not too much. He links his hand and scomp behind his back and still has his chin up and his body straight.

"Echo…“ Rex starts and it suddenly feels as if he forgets about the crowd, the senator, the ceremony for a moment and it’s just the two of them, just these two old companions and noone else. This is a very personal moment.

The hangar is quiet, you could hear a pin drop. A strange solemn atmosphere fills the room.

"The Remora is an excellent ship, a beacon of hope for us.“

Rex pauses and firmly looks Echo into the eyes. Everyone is holding their breaths.

Without breaking eye contact Rex slowly reaches out his left hand and puts it on Echo‘s chest. Just the way he must have done it a long time ago, back then when Echo was just a shiny and they first met on the Rishi moon.

Rex still takes his time to make this moment last, with his palm firmly pressed against Echo‘s chest and their eyes locked. This is obviously not about a speech…

"And an excellent ship needs an excellent commander" Rex continues. "Echo, we go way back. And I can't think of a better man for the job than you. As of now, I‘m giving you the command over the Remora.“

The audience needs a second but then the first people start to clap, mostly civilian supporters, but soon the clones give up their position and join them.

And all you see is Echo, Rex‘s hand still firmly placed on his chest, their eyes locked. You remember that picture you saw during your time travel, the picture of Fives and him when they were promoted to ARC troopers and young Echo looked as if he was about to faint. You don’t see much of that man anymore. This is not a pup who’s about to faint because he gets promoted. This is a seasoned soldier who knows he is, in fact, the best man for the job. Without arrogance and with enough humility to be aware of the big responsibility he’s taking but at the same time with the certainty that he is able to live up to the expectations that come with this command. He is proud but never cocky and gratefully accepts the trust put into him.

He‘s perfect.

He‘s in his element.

In his head a thousand ideas manifest already, a thousand battle plans, a thousand strategies unfold. Success has never been a reason for him to lean back but a motivator to be the best he can be and show everyone why the trust placed in him is justified.

You have never been prouder.

Rex slowly lets go of Echo’s chest once the applause begins to fade and he gives him a nod. Echo nods back.

A Pantoran assistant approaches the stage after senator Chuchi gave her a subtle signal. She carries three glasses with champagne. You are so captivated by the scene and the beauty and confidence of your man that you almost miss the tray next to you. A Pantoran gives you a friendly smile and offers a glass to you too. You take it like in trance and join everyone‘s toast on the new commander.

Your man.

The man who deserves it most.

He worked so hard and never expected anything in return.

And yet he got his own command today.

Rex could have claimed it for himself but he stepped back and made Echo the person who would be in the history books, the one who would change the fate of all clones.

Part 32: Amore - Part II (on 1st July)

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