“Jake?” Gael called out into the darkened room. The ship just felt wrong...it wasn’t like their home, it wasn’t the same. The air was stale and the recyclers needed to be changed out the next time they were anywhere. The room she had picked had belonged to another woman, but whatever had happened, all of her stuff had been left behind. Clothes, momentos, even a small safe that was still locked. Jake’s body moved in the shadows and she was relieved when the lights came up a little.
“Gael, what’s wrong?” Her adopted brother rolled over in the large bed and looked up at her. She tried a smile but her heart wasn’t in it. Her eyes rolled up and down his body and her mind wandered a dozen different directions… “Gael, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, everything.” the young Twi’lek sat on the edge of the bed and started to sob. “What are we going to do? Mom’s gone. Niner’s gone mental. It’s just us.” Her chest heaved as she started to cry harder.
“Hey...hey.” He smiled softly at his adopted sister and wrapped one of the blankets around her shoulders. “Niner seems to have settled down a lot since we got into hyperspace. Dosh thinks that whatever mission Mom gave him is complete and he is reverting to a different version of his programming.”
“That’s wonderful, so he’s only partially crazy. He was singing while he gunned down those Black Sun goons. It was a happy sounding song! What the hell?” She spun quickly to ask him more questions but didn’t realize he’d moved. Suddenly she was eye to eye with him and her breath caught in her throat.
“I’ve heard that song before...Mom used to sing it to me when i was a baby. It’s a Mandalorian lullaby.” His breath was warm against her skin and she closed her eyes as she felt the heat flash across her skin.
“A Mandalorian lullaby? This does not inspire good feelings or warmth, Jake. What are we going to do?”
“Whatever we are going to do, we’ll figure it out together. Niner says we have plenty of credits to go just about anywhere, but we’ll have a chat in the morning with everyone to figure out what our next step is. I love you guys, i don’t want to do anything without you.” his hands took a hold of hers and he smiled again. She melted in that smile.
“Screw it.”
“Wh-?” his question was lost in the press of her lips against his and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He tasted warm, and salty and everything that she thought he would. The moment expanded in all directions and she felt so serenely calm in that embrace. Jake slid his arms around her waist and laid back with her, supporting her body with his own. She held him tightly, and softly ran her tongue along his lips and finally broke the kiss to grab air.
She looked up at him, still wrapped around his neck. His eyes were confused but not angry. She tried to pull away, her mind suddenly screaming at her for a thousand different shameful and horrible thoughts. Jake refused to let go, and pulled her in close. His lips planted tiny soft pecks around the base of her lekku, and he slowly kissed his way back down to her lips. Her heart was beating a thousand beat a minute but she closed her eyes and took in the moment.
They stayed that way for almost a half an hour, alternating who was the kisser, and who was the kissed. Gael finally felt calm enough to sleep, and tried to stand to make her way back to her room. Jake slipped his arm around her waist as she stood.
“You can sleep here, if you want to.”
“We haven’t slept in the same bed since we were kids.” Gael answered him with a smirk.
“When Zan started to mature, Mom decided it was time we all slept in separate rooms.”
“I remember. She’s intoxicating.”
“Things got easier when Mom had the chat with her about wearing clothes around the house again.” Jake answered her.
“You didn’t share a bathroom with her.”
“No, no i did not. Dosh and I, pleasantly, have compatible grooming cycles.”
“You two didn’t come to blows over who got to use the mirror?”
“Nah, and he never borrowed my hair brush.” He flashed that damn smile again and they had a long, happy laugh.
“I would stay, but i don’t sleep wearing anything.” She finally answered his question.
“I don’t either.” he answered her. “If you want to stay, i’ll close my eyes while you undress and you can crawl into bed. There’s enough blankets and sheets for us to both wrap up in.”
“I’ve seen you naked before.” She smirked at him.
“Recently?”
“You and that Wesker girl were skinny dipping. I was bird watching and caught a view of a couple of rare specimens i was not expecting.” Her fingers fumbled over the buttons of her shirt and she finally slipped it off. She had a similar amount of trouble with her pants, but she managed to slip out of them. “I thought you were closing your eyes.”
“Oh, that’s right i was.” He nodded and closed his eyes while she finished undressing. He felt her weight on the bed and waited for permission to open his eyes again. She finally settled into a comfortable position and let him open his eyes again. “I have seen you too.”
"Oh? What sort of unnatural behavior were you up to?” She smiled softly and scooted closer to him. With an earth shattering sigh she pulled his arm around her.
“You remember that stupidly hot heat wave we had last summer?”
“Mmhmm. I thought we were going to melt.”
“You were out swimming to try and stay cool and i think the heat stroke must have gotten to you because you were peeling out of your suit and spent three hours soaking in that icy lake.”
“Three whole hours? Were you watching the whole time?”
"Uh…”
“Ssh. It’s okay.” She pulled him closer. “Jake...are we really going to be okay?”
“Well, my parameters for what is okay are rapidly changing, but the way i see it, as long as we work together, we’ll do better than we ever would apart.”
“So we’re going to be okay?”
“Yeah, Gael, we’re going to be okay.” She relaxed into him with those words and they fell asleep shortly after.
Continues in
Decision Points Here (Space Operatic Nonsense)
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