xvii

"It seems your presence has been detected," Zero informs us through the comms. Wow, he's a little late. "Redirecting security alert away from your position.

We round another corner and Mayfeld shouts obnoxiously into his comms device, "Z, open the door!" I roll my eyes. He just had to be loud as hell, didn't he?

"But I'm detecting an organic signature," The droid argues. I pause. Wasn't this ship supposed to be manned by only droids? Are we putting someone in danger by being here? This isn't what I signed up for.

"Yeah, okay, alright. Just open the door!" Mayfeld demands, and not very politely. How is he just going to dismiss the fact that there's someone in there?

The huge metal door slides open to reveal the control room, and a man within. He turns, shooting up from his chair and drawing his blaster as we enter, fear written all over his face. "Stop! Just stop right there!" he stutters. Mayfeld holds out an arm and our run slows to a walk as we enter the room, everyone's weapons up.

"You put down the blasters right now." His own weapon switches between all of us, and I'm the only one to holster my blaster. The poor guy's got enough weapons trained on him already, and it's not like I'm defenseless without the firearm.

"Nice shoes," Mayfeld comments casually, ignoring the man's threats. He nods at the man's clean, white shoes, surveying the rest of his outfit like we aren't breaking into a max security prison ship. "Matches his belt." Mayfeld draws a couple of laughs, obviously not from Mando or me. The guard keeps ordering us to drop our weapons, but nobody listens as we slowly arrange ourselves into a circle around him.

"There were only supposed to be droids on this ship." Mando brings up, his tone hard. If they knew about this and lied to us, then that doesn't put anybody in a very good situation.

"Hang on, hang on." Mayfeld waves him off distractedly, punching a couple of buttons on a panel. "Let's see here. Uh... Cell two-two-one. All right, now for our well-dressed friend." Mayfeld turns away from the controls and screens, facing the group once more. The guard's gun swivels to him, and then to other members of the crew. He takes out a device from his pocket, holding it up with a trembling hand.

Mayfeld holds up a hand, now cautious. "Woah, woah, woah, woah. Hey, easy. Easy, egghead. Put that down," His words are soft at first, like talking to a wounded animal, but soon his tone rises in volume and rigor. "Put that down. Come on."

The gun is pointed at Mando, and then to me. "Easy," Mando adds warily.

"Put that down now!" Mayfeld's gun is unholstered, and the guard turns back to him.

"Easy." Mando says firmly. "Nobody has to get hurt here."

I step a bit closer to the guard, my hands up to show that I'm unarmed as he whirls to face me. "He's right. Just calm down." I shoot Mayfeld a glare.

"What is that thing?" Burg, who we can always count on to be completely clueless, inquires.

"It's a tracking beacon." Mando explains, raising his gun slightly.

Mayfeld elaborates, "He presses that thing, we're all done. A New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Put it down!"

Xi'an looks to him incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious!"

"You didn't think we needed to know that tiny little detail?" she asks, scowling.

He argues back, not taking his eyes off of the guard. "I didn't think we'd get to this point!"

She sits back, throwing him a look. "And yet here we are."

"Are you questioning my managerial style, Xi'an?" He whirls on the Twi, stepping toward her.

Offering a disdainful smirk, she chuckles and gives a sarcastic solute. "No, sir."

"Alright, let's all calm down for a minute." I cut in, aiming it specifically toward the two.

Mando grabs the guard's attention. "Hey, listen to me." He earns a blaster barrel to the face- er, helmet. He raises his hands, slowly holstering his blaster. "Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me, okay? Look." He turns to Mayfeld, ordering him to put his blaster down.

"Are you crazy?" Mayfeld denies.

I glare at him, enunciating my words forcefully. "Put it down." I repeat. He begrudgingly complies.

Mando turns his attention back to the guard. "What's your name?"

"It's Davan." He stammers.

"Davan." Mando repeats calmly. "We're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life."

Mayfeld's gun is raised once more, pointed in Davan's face. "No, he won't." he protests.

"Hey!" Davan raises his blaster and the beacon warningly, and Mando's blaster is pointed at Mayfeld before anyone can blink. Mayfeld brings out his other blaster, pointing it at Mando.

Mando doesn't back down. "You realize what you're gonna bring down on us?"

"You think I care about that?"

I roll my eyes. "You damn well should, Mayfeld. We're not killing anybody, you understand?"

I'm ignored, as always. "Get that blaster out of my face, Mando." Mayfeld demands. I grit my teeth at his attitude, raising my own blaster at the bald asshole.

"I can't do that," Mando replies lowly.

He looks between us, shouting, "Get those blasters out of my face!" His backpack blaster appears once more, aiming at me. Burg shouts, raising his own twin blasters and pointing them at each of us.

Mando and I move simultaneously, turning to Burg and each pointing a different weapon at him. For Mando, it's his ready flamethrower and whatever other gadgets he has conveniently on his forearm. For me, it's a long knife of light aimed directly at the beast's throat. "Don't." Mando growls. 

We all stand there for a moment, staring one another down, until Xi'an throws one of her knives directly into Davan's stomach from the corner. He goes down, unconscious before he even hits the ground, and doesn't come back up.

"Would you all just shut up?" she rolls her eyes, standing. My own eyes are wide, staring at the guard who did nothing to deserve that.

"Crazy Twi," Mayfeld mutters, holstering his blaster. "I had it under control."

She retrieves her knife from the man, chuckling. "Yeah. Looked like it."

The beeping reaches my ears before it does anyone else's. My attention turns to the beacon, dread filling me as I see the device flashing. It definitely hadn't been doing that before. "Do you realize what you've just done?" I ask the Twi, trying to keep my calm.

"I did more than you were." she argues back.

"Clearly." I point to the flashing beacon on the floor, inches away from Davan's hand. It beeps rapidly, matching the pace of my heartbeat.

Mayfeld takes in a shaky breath. "Was that thing blinking before?" He looks around, but nobody responds. "Was it?"

Zero's voice fills the uncertain silence. "Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld."

The man fishes out his comm. "What?"

"I've detected a New Republic distress signal honing in on your location. You have approximately twenty minutes." I mutter a curse, and my ears barely catch Mando doing the same under his breath.

The purple bitch shrugs. "We only need five." she tries to play off her fatal mistake.

We run out of the control room, Mayfeld yelling for us to hurry. We run down the winding halls and around corners, and I finally get to see why we brought useless Burg along as he charges into a huge droid, slamming it onto the ground and then throwing it at another droid that begins to approach. He roars as he does it, causing a huge explosion.

I raise my brows. "Okay..." He turns back to us, a huge grin on his face as he cracks his neck, proud of himself.

After that whole show ends we start off again. Mando takes the rear, watching everyone's back as I watch his. We're all on our guards as Mayfeld sticks some sort of machine into the lock and instructs Zero to open the door to the cell. The droid informs us that we've got fifteen minutes left, and our "leader" just yells aggressively for him to open it, rushing the jailbreak along.

The door opens, revealing a male Twi'lek similar in coloring to Xi'an. He looks up from the ground as the door opens, surveying each member of the crew from his uncomfortable-looking bench. "Qin." Mando greets harshly.

Standing, the Twi grins and rasps in a deep voice, "Funny, the man who left me behind is now my savior." I furrow my brows, wondering what kind of history they have. "Mando." it sounds like Qin is trying the name on his tongue, his features screwed up in distaste. Before I can process what's happening, Burg growls and shoves both me and Mando into the cell. I yelp, falling onto the floor as Mayfeld slams the button to close the door. 

Mando shoots, trying to hit one of them, but the bolt bounces off of the walls unsuccessfully. I duck, narrowly missing the bolt as it flies over my head, singing a bit of my hair. Before I know what's happening, Mando throws his body on top of me and takes the shot to his Beskar-covered shoulder, effectively protecting me and possibly saving my life. I hear the exchange outside of the cell, now understanding that this is Xi'an's brother.

"Are you okay?" Mando asks me as I look through the bars, concerned. If we're stuck in here, what happens to the child?

"Yeah, you?" a nod. I hear retreating footsteps from outside, along with insults toward the both of us, then nothing. They've already left.

"Haar'chak! I knew I couldn't trust them." He paces around the small cell angrily.

I marvel at the foreign word. I know many languages, but what he just said is a mystery to me. "What was that?"

He turns to me, ceasing his movements. "What?"

"That word. Haar'chak. What language is it?" He doesn't respond for a moment, and I take that as him denying me an answer, or maybe he just doesn't want to talk about it. "Or not. I mean, now's not really the time-"

"It's Mando'a. I was taught some of the language when I was young. I'm not fluent, and I don't remember much of it anymore, but... occasionally it slips out." His tone has a slight shade of embarrassment to it.

I grin. "That's kinda cool, actually, for the Mandalorians to have their own language. What does that mean?"

"Damn it." He explains sheepishly. I laugh.

"You'll have to teach me some of that, someday. I mean, if that's okay. If I'm not allowed to learn it, then that's fine, but..." I cut my rambling off with an embarrassed grin.

"No, I will. But there won't be much of a 'someday' unless we find a way out of here." He examines the door, trying to see if there's anything he can do. I think, crouching to look down at the lock.

"The security droids." I realize, snapping my fingers. He turns to me, motioning for me to explain. "Think about it. They probably have some kind of mechanism or key to unlock this as a backup, in case one of them accidentally gets stuck in a cell." I tap on the lock. "Of course, that does us no good since we don't have a droid with us."

"No, but we can get one." I tilt my head. How would we get one? He notices my look and chuckles. "Leave that part to me. But you are brilliant." 

I smile, my cheeks flushed. Wandering over to the bench, I watch as he works his magic, once again having to narrowly dodge a blaster shot before Mando manages to disable the robot and yank off its arm. He tosses the thing to me, wiping his hands of oil. I find a latch inside the arm and flip it, causing a metal stick-like key to reveal itself, sticking out from the wrist.

"Brilliant." Mando compliments once more. I laugh, shushing him as I blush once more, trying to focus on getting us out rather than flirting. It's surprisingly easy after that to escape. "Do you remember the way to the control room?"

I nod. "Follow me." He's lucky I have an amazing memory. Sometimes it's a curse, but it's proven useful today. "Why are we going back there, though?"

"I have an idea. Although I'll probably need your help to pull it off." We make sure to avoid any droids on our way back, talking lowly as he explains his master plan. And I have to admit, it's pretty damn good.

>>>>><<<<<

My fingers fly across the various buttons with ease as Mando describes to me what exactly he wants done. I don't bother keeping the smirk off of my face, watching the crew argue and scramble on the cameras. "Alright, everything's set. We can manually open and close some doors if we want, but they should also be able to close on their own." I glance at the flashing beacon warily. "We've got about ten minutes."

"That's plenty of time. We just need to move quick," He assures me. I nod, preparing myself. This should be fun. "I figured we could hide in the vents. They'll know we're in the control room by now, so we'll take the first one that makes it here by surprise."

"Right, that's good." I agree, although I'm a bit short to reach the ceiling. Mando's easily got about five inches on me. I crane my neck, trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to get up there.

Mando clears his throat, lacing his fingers together and creating a foothold for me. I pat his shoulder with a grin. "Good thinking." We count down before he lifts me up, making it seem as easy as lifting feathers. I grab a hold of the grate and shove it to the side, pulling myself up easily. There's plenty of room to crouch up here and wait.

I offer a hand down to Mando and he takes it, gripping my forearm. I only strain a bit, and he helps me when he can reach the grate by latching onto it with his free hand and using both to pull himself up. I sigh, sitting back once he's up and the grate is back in place. "So, how heavy would you say the Beskar is? Like, the whole getup?"

He chuckles. "It's not light, but I've gotten used to it. I couldn't say."

I glance down, doing a double-take when I see the absence of a beacon next to Davan's hand. "You don't happen to know why there's no beacon down there anymore, do you?" I question, confused. He holds it up between his fingers, and I breathe a sigh. "What're you planning on doing with it?"

"You'll see."

"But-" I cut myself off as I catch a faint noise down the hall. Footsteps, probably still a good few yards outside of the control room but still the closest we've yet to hear. The pace and volume suggest a heavy speed-walk, and I'm willing to bet it's Burg approaching. Xi'an would be quieter, Mayfeld isn't so careless to walk that heavily, and I'm not too sure about Qin, but he'd probably be less worried about finding us and more focused on our ship. The sound reaches me first, but it's not long until Mando can hear it, too.

We wait, silent as hunting raptors scouting the next meal. The footsteps grow slightly quieter as he approaches, the alien finally realizing he should probably be a bit more careful. I gesture silently to Mando, signaling that I'll drop first. He shakes his head, before gesturing to his forearm and then down. I'm slightly confused until he points to his grappling hook, and realization dawns on me. I agree silently.

Burg prowls warily into the control room, We watch through the metal lines of the grate, completely silent. I hold my breath, not knowing how good his hearing is. He mutters something so low that I can't quite identify it and, only moments later, Mando's line has shot down and wrapped itself neatly around Burg's neck.

The red being groans, thrashing, but manages to keep his feet on the ground. He grasps the wire around his neck and pulls, yanking Mando and the entire section of the grate he was perched on down to the ground. I barely manage to jump back in time to avoid collapsing with him. Before Burg can make a move against Mando, I regain my bearings and jump down onto Burg's shoulders, squeezing my knees as I try to choke him, repeatedly hitting his head. I'm wary of the horns, although as he tries to spin to get me off, I grip one to keep myself from being flung.

Seeing that this isn't working very well, I fling myself backwards and land on my hands, successfully throwing the beast onto the ground. I then kick my feet, flipping into a standing position. Burg is on his feet in moments, a much quicker recovery than I was expecting. He throws a punch that knocks me back into the wall, and hard. I'm dazed for a short while, closing my eyes in an attempt to stall the oncoming headache.

When I hear loud bangs , sounds of struggling, a blaster shot and the sound of familiar, tiny rockets, I snap open my eyes. Somehow, Burg has managed to get Mando on the floor. He tried to set off his Whistling Birds but it was to no avail as Burg pushed his hand away and the Birds went in the wrong direction, hitting almost everything except me and Burg.

The beast slams a hand down onto Mando's chest, a blow that would've broken multiple ribs if not for the protective Beskar. Nonetheless, Mando lets out a pained groan. I have to help, but I'm still slightly dizzy and I'll be no good to Mando unconscious. 

Burg throws Mando into the control panel, earning a face full of Mando's flamethrower that would've melted off anybody else's face. Burg, however, just pushes Mando's hand out of his face, rendering us both shocked. The flamethrower sputters out and Burg stands with a grin, his entire head steaming yet the man is somehow unharmed. He growls before striking Mando's head and then pushing his face into the buttons, sliding his head violently across the panel before throwing him to the ground.

Mando getting his ass beat like this is a bit frightening, I won't lie. But enough is enough, and I can't just sit around doing nothing. I rush at Burg's legs from behind him, managing to knock down the unsuspecting being, but not for long. He's up before I am, and I barely have time to dodge a stomp to my face before springing to my feet. I deliver a roundhouse kick that would've knocked anyone else unconscious had it found its mark, but unfortunately Burg catches my foot in midair and throws me into the panel like he had with Burg moments before. This time, I manage to protect my head from the impact- mostly.

I try to rise, but Burg's foot makes contact with my stomach, once again sending me sprawling into the control panel. My spine hits the edge harshly and I yelp, no doubt drawing attention to our location. Wheezing, I clutch my midsection, the wind knocked out of me.

I'm down now, trying not to writhe in pain, but thankfully Mando's had enough of a break. He approaches the beast, who turns at the last second and grabs Mando by his throat. "Let's see your face, Mandalorian." I gasp, trying to push myself onto my hands and knees, at least. That helmet will stay on if I anything to say about it.

Burg lets out a crazed laugh as he and Mando struggle, but it isn't for long as Mando manages to get his feet on the ground and kick the beast over him. Burg lands in the doorway and rises quicker than the hunter does, but he merely pulls a knife out of his boot and throws it at the panel next to the door. The heavy metal barrier falls onto the red alien, but to my dismay he catches it and once again begins to rise with it on his shoulders. Now on his feet, Mando (who had evidently been prepared for this outcome) simply presses another button and more doors come out of the sides of the doorway, effectively knocking the alien out.

The armored man turns to me and I wheeze weakly from my spot on the floor, clutching my ribs, "Nice job." I made it to my hands and knees, at least. Damn, I didn't think Burg could beat me that bad. I suppose I might've underestimated him.

"You alright?" I take his outstretched hand and pull myself up. Once I'm standing, his other hand drifts to my shoulder to steady me.

"Yeah, I'm good. I just... need a minute." I rest my own hand on his forearm, trying to force myself to be alright again. We don't have time for my weakness. "Alright, let's go."

"You sure?" I nod, and we leave the control room, blasters up although they really don't need to be.

"So when we get to Xi'an, can I help?" I ask, trying to sound at least a little innocent. He snorts before nodding.

We find Xi'an sooner than I'd expected. She turns as we round the corner, releasing two knives as she does so, which knocks both of our blasters out of our hands. It's no matter; I've got other weapons. As she throws her knives two at a time, one at each of us, I deflect with my light and Mando blocks with his armor. We draw closer to the opponent with every throw and block. Everything's going fine, until she manages to sink a knife into Mando's shoulder.

He pauses and she takes the chance to run at him, but I cover for him and run to meet her. I create a knife, throwing it. It finds it's target in Xi'an's thigh. I wish for a moment that it was somewhere more fatal, but Mando and I agreed not to kill any of them. We exchange blows before I get the better of her. She rushes at me with a knife, expecting me to meet her weapon with a knife of my own. Instead, I notice the rage and sloppiness of her technique, using it to my advantage. I grab her arm, holding it away from her and putting a knife of my own to her throat. She gasps, statue-still, the rage still evident in her gaze.

I can't resist at least one snarky comment, though, so I hiss in her ear, "If you're going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty." Before she can escape from my grip or make a counterattack, I knock her out cold.

"You alright?" I ask in concern, repeating his words from earlier. I think the fact that we've both asked each other that in the span of five minutes says that we need to find other things to do.

He nods, brushing off my concern and leaving the knife in. "I'll live."

We find Mayfeld quickly, and he's by far the easiest to take out. He doesn't notice until we're right behind him and by the time he does, it's too late. He exclaims in anger before we knock him out too. Mando agrees to go back and get Burg's unconscious body while I drag Xi'an and Mayfeld to the cell we'd occupied earlier.

"Gladly," I smirk, picking up one of their feet each. It's not far until I reach the cell and throw them both in carelessly, wiping my hands off on my pants. Lying, betraying sons of bitches. Should've seen karma coming a mile away.

Mand arrives with Burg moments later. "We gotta find Qin and get to the ship. Zero's still up there. Here's what we'll do, if it's okay with you-" 

"Let's go, tell me on the way." I grab his hand and pull him along at a run, the beeping becoming noticeably faster on the beacon. We haven't got much time left. He briefly explains that I'll go around behind Qin because he'll almost definitely try to pull a move and kill Mando. Not that he easily could, but he'd still try. Mando goes in front, we improvise, and hopefully it works.

I take the turn before the hallway we first arrived in, going around back. Thankfully, the door behind the ship's ladder is still open and I can see everything happening between Qin and Mando while staying undetected in the shadows.

"Qin." Mando shouts as the Twi begins climbing the ladder. He pauses, stepping down from the second rung hesitantly.

"You killed the others," He assumes in a mutter.

Mando answers vaguely, "They got what they deserved." The Twi'lek snarls and I tense, moving closer. He draws his blaster on Mando, but Mando had seen it coming and his weapon is out in a flash.

Qin raises his blaster higher, his trigger finger tense. He's going to shoot, I realize. I'm behind him in an instant, a knife at his throat. "Don't you dare," I hiss.

He lowers his weapon in surrender, seeing that he's outmatched. "You kill me, you don't get your money," He huffs with a shrug. "Whatever Ran promised, I'll make sure you get it, and more."

"Like we'd trust you." I growl in his ear.

Qin scoffs. "Don't let her speak for you. Come on, Mando. Be reasonable." He tosses his blaster on the ground, his body still tense. I don't release him, tightening my grip on the knife.

He seems to realize that we aren't going to side with him. "You were hired to do a job, right? So do it." He holds his hands out, waiting for Mando to cuff them. "Isn't that your code? Aren't you a man of honor?" He laughs as Mando lowers his blaster, fishing out a pair of cuffs. I loosen my grip, accepting the restraints as they're tossed to me. Qin's brows raise as I roughly strap the cuffs onto his wrists.

He opens his mouth to say something, but I'm already tired of his voice. I slap him hard enough to leave a mark, then pointing a finger in his face. "Not a word." Turning to Mando, I urge, "We don't have much time left, and Zero's still up in the ship. We need to move."

He nods and I grab the crook of Qin's elbow, shoving him towards the ladder. Mando ascends first, wanting to check on the child while I have the job of chaining Qin to the ladder of the ship. Before I'm even fully in the ship, a shot goes off and a thud reverberates throughout the ship. I shove Qin the rest of the way through, pulling myself up as fast as I can only to see Zero falling to the floor, dead. I sigh, relieved. The child's compartment is open as he looks up to Mando in wonder, cooing as if to tell him all about what happened while he was gone. I smile softly, before realizing that Zero was probably about to murder the child. If anything, I'm just glad that annoying droid is dead.

Mando carries the child up to the cockpit, and I let him know I'll meet him up there. I tighten Qin's restraints far more than I need to, and he talks while I'm at it. "So who're you, his lapdog?" the Twi'lek sneers. Maker, he's as much of a purple bitch as his sister.

"I'm his friend," I grunt. He hums.

"You know, I dealt with him for a while. Mandalorians don't have friends." Dealt with?

"Then clearly, you don't know much."

He arches a brow. "Oh, I know enough. I know he's menacing, cunning, secretive. A coward. I know you shouldn't trust him because he's given you no reason to."

I plaster a fake smirk onto his face, refusing to show any emotion to this criminal. "Wow, that was a lot of adjectives." I marvel in a mocking tone. "But you know, it is rather dangerous to use your entire vocabulary in a single sentence. I suppose I'd better leave so you can concentrate on coming up with some new words, yeah?"

I begin to walk away but he calls out after me, "I know you see it! He's never shown you his face, has he? You don't know his name, nor what he looks like, because he's a coward and you can't trust him!"

"You're one to talk." I comment, the alien getting on my nerves.

"But you can't say that you don't agree with me." he tries to reason.

I pretend to think. "Eh... I would, but then we'd both be wrong."

"If you just let me out of here, I'll pay you. I have connections. I'll find you better jobs than he ever could." Qin is almost begging at this point. I roll my eyes at his stupidity. Like I'd ever free him, much less leave with him.

"No, I think I'll pass for now. But I have a present for you." I take off my cloak, ripping a generously sized piece off and shoving it in his mouth. I smile sarcastically, patting his cheek. "There. Now I almost like you." He struggles a moment, chains rattling. In an instant, I've conjured a knife and pointed it at his cheek, ceasing his thrashing. I press the point into his cheek, drawing blood. "Quiet," I demand, my voice low and threatening. I then make my way up the ladder, no more sound to be heard from him. I sigh, sinking down into my seat and pulling the happy, giggling child into my lap.

"Qin giving you trouble?" Mando asks, focused on his window as we streak through hyperspace.

"Nothing I can't handle. Why?" We've had a long, rough day and I may be over-analyzing things, or he may jut be tired. I'm not sure, but he normally does this when he's upset. Best just to ask. Sometimes he's not very good with others, or words.

"I heard you both yelling, is all."

I think I know what he's building up to. "And did you hear what was said?"

He doesn't offer an answer at first. Then, reluctantly, "I did." I open my mouth to say more, but he cuts me off. "We should talk after. We'll be there in a couple minutes, and I don't want our conversation to be cut short."

I sit back and nod, playing with the child while we wait and trying to ignore the beeping of the tracking beacon. Soon enough, the ship whines and we drop out of hyperspace, approaching the oddly shaped base. Mando asks that I stay with the child while he drops off Qin. I agree, having to wait only a few minutes before he returns.

"The beacon?" I ask, seeing that it's no longer on him.

"With Qin, but he doesn't know that. They'll come after us, or free the rest of the crew who will also come after us. They aren't very happy with us at the moment so I figured, why not give them a little parting gift?" Mando explains, sitting back down in his chair. I snort at his explanation.

He lifts the ship, maneuvering it into space- and just on time, as three X-Wings drop out of hyperspace. "Good move." I compliment as we re-enter hypserspace and drop out a few parsecs away. We drift for a while, and he turns around in his seat to face me. "You wanna talk now?"

He nods. "I just... I heard what Qin said and he was right." I open my mouth to protest because Qin is a conniving son of a bitch, but he holds a hand up. "No, listen. It's really hard for you to trust me, especially with all of this,-" he gestures to his armor. "-plus everything you've gone through. I admire that you can, but I haven't made it easy."

"Mando, I'm okay with how things are if you are." 

"It's Din." he says abruptly. I stop, my brain short-circuiting for a moment.

"What?"

He speaks slightly louder, his helmet tilted toward the floor, meaning his gaze is probably at his boots instead of me. "My name is Din Djarin. I just figured, with everything you've already shared, I could at least give you that."

Slowly, I lift the child from my lap and into his carrier. He looks up, noticing that I'm silent. He's extremely tense, even trembling a little- probably because he's nervous, and he has every right to be. I doubt he's even spoken his name for years.

"Din Djarin." I repeat, the name flowing nicely off of my tongue. This information is huge. It means he trusts me, more than anyone. Unexpectedly, I find my eyes brimming with tears. I think they're happy tears.

I hear his breath catch through his helmet and before I know what I'm doing, I'm on my feet and closing the small distance between us in a single stride. I pull him into a hug, myself standing and him still sitting. For a moment he's entirely still, before he wraps his arms around my waist and leans into my stomach. My arms are loosely placed around his neck and shoulders, fitting comfortably. I wipe a stray tear, a huge smile on my face that I just can't seem to wipe off. He's told me his name. It's a huge step, especially for him.

"Thank you." he murmurs quietly. I laugh a little, still trying to hold back tears.

"For what? I should be thanking you."

"I haven't heard my name spoken since I was a child. And you've been so... accepting and okay with everything. You don't know what I look like, you've barely even learned my name, and yet you trust me so completely that I... it's hard to believe." he pauses, his grip tightening slightly. "I never thought I could have this. I thought you'd leave, that you'd be disappointed-"

He stops talking when I start to pull myself out of his grip, but it's only so that I can pull him to his feet. Once he's up, I wrap my arms around his torso tightly, smiling when his arms go around me right away. "Don't say that."

"How could I not? You're... well, you, and you're so incredibly understanding and brilliant. And I'm me, and I can't fathom how you're still here." His voice breaks a tad, and it's then that I realize the true depth of his insecurities. He's lived with them his whole life, unable to get close to anyone because he knew that it couldn't go very far, that his culture had limitations.

"Because I want to be." I pull back slightly so I can look up at him. "Hey. What's wrong with being you?" I focus my gaze on his visor, imagining that if I look hard enough, I might even be able to see his eyes.

He sighs, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. Leaning forward a tad, the forehead of his helmet comes down to meet mine. I close my eyes for a second, breathing and relishing in the moment.

I breathe a slow inhale, opening my eyes and leaning back so that I can look at him once more. "Look, I'm glad you told me. And I'll never be disappointed, okay?"

"Are you sure?" He asks, his voice soft and fragile.

"Of course. Din, do you not see how happy I am?" A laugh escapes my lips. "You don't have anything to worry about, alright?"

He buries his head into my shoulder, not seeming to care about the height difference. "Okay," he mumbles. I loop my arms loosely around his neck and his hands drop to my waist, reluctant at first until he's hugging me tightly. I can feel him trembling, and after a moment I realize I can hear soft, almost inaudible whimpers. He's crying.

"Din..." I rub his back, a couple of drops escaping his helmet and falling onto my shoulder. I wish I could help him, but for now the most I can do is comfort him with hugs and small touches and hope it's enough.

After a few minutes, he pulls away, not looking at me. "I'll be right back." he declares in a semi-broken voice. He rushes out of the room before I can say anything. I look after him, sighing, before I turn to the child. He'd been surprisingly silent throughout the whole ordeal, as if he'd sensed he seriousness of the conversation. Maybe he had; he is pretty extraordinary.

I lift him up, playing with him for a while before I hear curses and banging through the open door. I sigh, setting the child down once more. "I'm gonna go check on him. You stay right here and don't get into any trouble, okay?" I instruct softly. He looks up at me and coos. "No ship controls. I'll teach you to fly when you're older, alright? But for now, be the momma's boy I know you are." I grin, rubbing the pad of my thumb along his cheek affectionately before setting off to find Din.

He's in the belly of the ship, no surprise there. I make my way down the ladder, not looking at him just yet. "If you don't have a helmet on, now would be the time to let me know." I drop to the floor, eyes squeezed shut.

"You're fine." I nod and open my eyes, finding medical supplies strewn all over the floor and Din in the middle of all of it. He has a couple of pieces of Beskar off, and looks quite tense.

"So... I heard some "haar'chak"s down here. Everything alright?" I attempt to half-joke, remembering the word he taught me earlier. 

"Yeah," I cross my arms, the look on my face speaking for me: I know he's lying. He sighs. "The Beskar... I'm having trouble getting it off. And with my shoulder, the cut from Xi'an... It isn't very deep, but I was trying to get it patched up anyway. You can see how well that went."

"Do you want help?" I offer, knowing he probably wouldn't ask by himself. He can be as stubborn as me when he wants.

"Sure." he agrees after a moment, leaning against a table. I understand why he wouldn't be able to get the Beskar off of his shoulder; an injured shoulder means limited range of movement, so you can't exactly reach across your body. And he's downplaying the severity of the wound, too. He was stabbed by a throwing knife, that isn't something to take lightly.

He tells me how it works and in no time, I've removed all of the Beskar from his upper body. It's almost odd, seeing his underclothes without the armor. "Am I allowed to be around you without your shirt?" I ask a bit sheepishly. To my surprise, he's calmed since I came down here, and he actually laughs.

"Yeah, it's just my face you can't see." I nod, helping him out of the shirt. I try not to focus too much on his body as I work, although it's a bit hard not to- especially since I've never seen any part of him like this. Not to mention, he's in pretty good shape.

I catch myself staring and blush bright red, hoping he didn't notice. Instead, I hear a light chuckle. "Oh, shut up, you'd do it too." I mutter, not used to being so embarrassed.

"You're not wrong," he muses, only making me flush harder. Where did this sudden confidence come from?

I wish I could cover my face, but I'm currently stitching his wound and that requires my hands. "Shut up, Din."

As much teasing as there is going on, I think it's just from nerves and proximity. I can hear the small intake of breath and see him tense every time my fingers brush exposed skin. This is a first for him, somebody else patching up his wound like this, maybe in his entire life if not in years.

I finish dressing his wound and help him back into his clothes, a bit disappointed that it ended so soon. We head back up to the cockpit, and thankfully the child has fallen asleep and isn't attempting to fly. I knew he was a momma's boy.

"Oh! Can I fly?" I ask excitedly, remembering that I had wanted to fly this ship not long ago. We'd both been a bit preoccupied since then, but now would be a great time.

"Sure." Din chuckles, moving to my spot. I brush my hands over the controls, a smile on my face. Oh, I miss my ship. The Voyager was cheap, old, and definitely not as good as the Razor Crest, but she was mine all the same.

Once I get the feel of the controls and do a couple of experimental tricks, I let us go back to drifting and turn in the chair to face Din. "So, tell me about Xi'an."

He stiffens quickly. "That's... not what I expected you to say," he admits. "Okay, well, first. Are you upset about her?"

I shrug. "I was. I was upset you didn't tell me about her, but really, she just wasn't very likable. A bit of a bitch. So, sometime during that insane mission, I stopped being mad at you and just focused all of it on her. And look at us, we never have to see her again." I grin. "I just want to know what happened."

"Well, she took it a bit more seriously than I did. It was just careless flirting. She tried to get me to take the helmet off multiple times, got a little too touchy." he explains rather vaguely.

"That's it?" I ask, a bit confused as to why she was so... well, comfortable with him.

"Yeah. It's been a long time since I've had positive physical contact, like yours. Hers was... for her own benefit. She never cared about me, only herself and the fantasy she created that I would be with her."

I think on that for a minute. I like her even less now, finding out that she used him in the way she did. "Anyone else I should know about?"

"What?" he asks, almost sounding confused like he doesn't know he attracts women everywhere he goes.

"Well, there was Omera and there was Xi'an. Is there anyone else?" I count off the two I know about on my fingers.

"Okay, Omera wasn't technically with me, and neither was Xi'an, for that matter." he points out.

"Right. So, any other unofficial exes you're hiding?" I correct myself sarcastically.

He thinks. "None. What about you?"

I sputter. "Me?" he nods. "Have you met me?"

"Yeah, you're someone that I would assume has a decent amount of exes. I mean, you're beautiful, and I'm definitely not the only one who thinks that." The words are slow, hesitant and nervous, but full of sincerity. My face flushes, maybe for the tenth time in under an hour. I bury my face in my hands, drawing a laugh from him. "So?"

I shake my head. He's incredulous. "Nobody?"

"Nobody. It took me a long time to talk to anybody, much less trust anyone. A couple of people tried, and you've seen the disgusting guys in bars, but you're the first to succeed." I explain.

He sits back. "Huh. I would not have guessed that."

{word count: 7,276??? if you just read this whole thing congrats i'm so sorry}

a/n: GUYS OMFG I WAS GONE FOR LIKE 5 DAYS AND THIS IS ALREADY AT 1.3K VIEWS WHAT THE HELL ADFHDKFJH THANK YOU SO MUCH AHHHH I'M SO HAPPYY

also the name scene was possibly one of my favorites to write so i really really hope you guys are enjoying this and that i'm at least doing this amazing series some justice because i've had a ton of fun with this

i'll go now sorry for the deathly long chapter but thank you allllll ahhh i love you guys