Chapter Text
ABY 27
Jaq Andor had only been on Coruscant and finally off duty for a few hours when he received a holocall from Ocera Kal. Jaq stepped into a quiet corner of the barracks to take the call, wondering why Dobeen’s sister would be calling him. Dobeen was supposed to be going on leave in another two days,a and the two of them hoped to catch a few days on the city planet together before they got sent out on missions again.
“Hey, Ocera, what’s up?” Jaq asked as the image of Dobeen’s sister flickered into few.
Her distressed expression immediately put him on edge.
“Get to Cortanna Hospital as soon as you can, Jaq, it’s bad,” Ocera managed over the holo. Had she been crying? Jaq felt his blood go cold.
“Dobeen?” he asked hesitantly.
Her nod had him mumbling a farewell and cutting the holo as he bolted through the barracks to find his Commander and advise her where Jaq would be.
The skycab ride to the medical center seemed to take hours, though Jaq knew it was merely a few minutes. He tapped his foot impatiently as the skycab docked and then made a fast clip towards the hospital entrance.
One thing he’d always hated about the city-planet was how blasted big things were. He’d grown up on Yavin 4 where things were a manageable size, rather than an entire city swallowing a planet and every inch of ground possible and then some. It took several minutes to navigate the med center to the right floor, and he felt some mild relief when he saw Ocera Kal waiting for him by the nurse’s station. He and Dobeen weren’t family, so typically they wouldn’t let him back, but Ocera could blow past all that as Dobeen’s sister.
“What happened?” he demanded as Ocera reached out and took his shaking hand.
The pale red and gray Togruta female’s expression grew angry as she spoke in a low tone, her eyes darting about. “There was an attack on their convoy. New Republic’s claiming it was home grown terrorists, but there were rumors of white helmets, though no one will confirm or deny it.”
Jaq’s brows creased and he wondered just where Ocera had heard those rumors. He knew she worked somewhere in the New Republic government, though neither she nor Dobeen had ever said specifically where. “So not just some random attack?” he hissed in a very low voice.
It seemed to play right into every suspicion his parents, uncles, and aunt had mentioned for the past several years. Of course there was never any hard evidence, and both Jaq and Ocera knew that someone just might be destroying or covering up any hard evidence.
Jaq’s faith in the New Republic to actually keep the galaxy safe was slipping further with each passing day. But what could he, one lowly pilot, do about it, other than quit the Starfleet, and what good would that do anyone right now?
He took a deep breath, in, out, and met Ocera’s golden eyes. “Can we see him?”
Ocera lead him through the hospital to Dobeen’s room. A few of the nurses eyed Jaq, but they didn’t stop him with Ocera at his side.
Dobeen was hooked up to any number of monitors and machines, mask pressed over his face to help him breath, and unconscious.
“They said he should come round in the next 24 hours or so,” Ocera assured him. “But…they almost lost him, twice, before they got him here.”
“How long have you been here, Ocera?” Jaq asked as concern for her slipping into his tone as he realized how exhausted she looked.
“Two days,” she admitted after a long moment. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll get you added to the visitor list.”
“Then you’ll go home and get some rest and real food,” Jaq ordered her. “I can stay here.”
She looked grateful and squeezed his shoulder before she slipped from the room.
Jaq was just glad he’d already debriefed. He sighed and settled into the chair he knew that Ocera had occupied for the last two days, preparing himself for a long wait.
~~
Jaq dozed uncomfortably in the chair, half slumped over. Ocera had come and gone in the past 18 hours. Unfortunately she’d had to check in at work rather than remain at her brother’s side, but she promised to come back that evening and relieve Jaq for a bit. Neither of them mentioned she’d have a hard time removing him from his boyfriend’s side.
The shift of the big Togruta’s body on the bed woke Jaq out of the fitful doze and his brown eyes flew open to regard Dobeen’s golden eyes, for the first time since he’d reached the hospital.
“You kriffing sheb,” Jaq hissed softly, biting back a sob of relief as he reached out for Dobeen’s hand.
The doctors interrupted anything else he might have to say, and it was almost another two hours before they were alone again. This time though, Dobeen’s mask had been removed and he was breathing on his own.
Jaq clutched at the larger man’s hand, his eyes trailing along Dobeen’s bandaged and battered body. “Of course you’d step in front of someone else and protect them,” he sighed. “And lose a blasted leg in the process. What were you thinking, Dobeen?”
“Reacted, didn’t think,” the big Togruta managed a half smile. “Didn’t mean to worry you, Jaq. Sorry we won’t get the leave we planned.”
“You idiot,” Jaq hissed. “You really think that’s what’s bothering me? I could have lost you, you big lug. I love you, kriff it.”
“Bout blasted time you said that,” Ocera muttered from the doorway.
Jaq flushed as Dobeen’s sister entered the room, regarding her injured brother and his lover. “He’s been mooning over you for three frecking years, Jaq, and now you finally say I love you? Just like your parents, I’ll bet.”
“I always knew,” Dobeen defended weakly. “He, we, just never said it.”
“You two are impossible,” Ocera swore.
The next thing Jaq said threw both Kals for a loop.
“Marry me, Dobeen, now?” Jaq asked, gripping his boyfriend’s hand tightly.
Ocera groaned and Dobeen blinked once then coughed a little. “Your timing is bantha shit, Jaq.”
“Yeah, but I can’t live thinking that you might die and you weren’t mine and I wasn’t yours,” Jaq replied.
Ocera frowned. “Kriff, you mean you want to marry him now, right here, while he’s in the kriffing hospital?”
Dobeen narrowed his eyes at Jaq and Jaq felt himself begin to sweat as the minutes ticked by.
“Fine,” Dobeen said at last, though he scowled a little at Jaq. “I expect a decent honeymoon though, we when can both arrange leave and I’m healed up. Ocera will you go grab an official?”
“You are both insane,” Ocera muttered as she stalked from the room.
How she found someone Jaq and Dobeen would never be entirely sure, but half an hour later an officiant, a short green Twi’lek with amused blue eyes, stood at the end of Dobeen’s hospital bed. Ocera leaned against the wall with her arms crossed as she eyed her brother and soon-to-be brother-in-law.
“Well, I’m Ifiyla,” the Twi’lek informed them, her voice laced with amusement. “And I’ll be performing your impromptu ceremony today. Don’t worry, this isn’t the first one like it I’ve seen.” She grinned and looked at Dobeen. “Dobeen Kal, will you take Jaq Andor to be your lawful husband and mate, in the eyes of the galaxy and those gathered here today, in sickness and health, for the rest of your days?”
“I will,” Dobeen replied, his voice a bit hoarse, but his tone firm.
“Very good,” Ifiyla eyed Jaq. “Do you Jaq Andor, take Dobeen Kal to be your lawful husband and mates, in the eyes of the galaxy and all gathered here, in sickness and health, for the rest of your days?”
“I do,” Jaq replied, his eyes glimmering as he glanced at Dobeen.
“Then I pronounce Jaq Andor and Dobeen Kal to be lawfully wed, by the power invested in me by the city of Coruscant and the New Republic.” The Twi’lek grinned. “You may kiss.”
Jaq leaned over the hospital bed and brushed his lips lightly against Dobeen’s. “I love you,” he said softly.
“I love you too, Jaq,” Dobeen replied. “Now and forever.”
They had to part long enough to sign documentation and data pads, then Ifiyla left them alone with Ocera.
“We’ll have to submit the right forms in the morning,” Dobeen murmured to Jaq. “Though I doubt anyone will really be surprised.”
“No, Dobeen Kal-Andor, I don’t think they will,” Jaq grinned down at his husband.
“I still say you two are idiots,” Ocera told them. “I’m going to go scrounge up some cake from the cafeteria, and you’d better call your parents, Jaq.”
Jaq blinked, eyes going wide. “Oh Shit.”
~~
As the holocall faded away, Cassian turned and lifted a brow at his wife. “So, shall we plan a large reception or something small for the family?” he inquired.
Jyn was still shaking her head at their oldest son. “They got married in a kriffing hospital room. They didn’t even bother warning us beforehand, or calling us during the ceremony.”
Cassian shrugged. “Does anyone in this family really ever have a normal wedding, Jyn? You and I got married on the bridge of a ship, Bodhi and Vexei got married in Cloud City by Lando, and our niece got married in an ‘all night Jedi Temple’ on kriffing Nar Shaddaa.”
“I had hoped our son would break the mold,” Jyn muttered.
“Well there’s always Biva and Lev if they ever get married,” Cassian shrugged, seeming to take all of this rather well. “I say we throw a big party when they take leave here though.”
Jyn met her husband’s gaze and saw the mirth in those brown eyes and chuckled. “Mm, big party indeed. Break out all the childhood pictures, get Ocera to find as many as she can of Dobeen?”
“Perfect,” Cassian replied.