Chapter Text
Fennec
Can we please land soon and get some fresh air? she thinks to herself for the third time that night. Watching the two of them circling each other was torture. They'd all been playing dice and it had gone from friendly to competitive to something else entirely for two of their party. These were two of the most oblivious idiots she had ever seen. She might be sick if she had to watch them making eyes at each other over the table one more time.
"It's too much for me, I'm going to turn in," she decides. "Let me run the final checks and then I'm going to sleep," she tells the group, as she stands from the table.
"This early?" Boba asks, slightly surprised. He checks the chronometer to make sure he's not seeing things.
"The tension is so thick in this room you can cut it with a knife. I'm surprised that the dice can even roll in this soup."
"What are you talking about?" Mando asked, as he looked up and glanced at Cara, who shakes her head. She must not know either.
Fennec is too tired to explain it to two idiots who are clearly in denial. "If you haven't figured that out then maybe that's the problem." There was so much electricity in the air it might start messing with some of the stripped wiring soon.
"It won't hurt any of us to get an extra hour of sleep," the ship's pilot agrees as he too stands and stretches.
Fett leaves the main deck for a moment and brings back something folded up over one arm. "Don't really have guests," he explains as to why there are no other sleeping chambers. "I have this one extra blanket I found, but it shouldn't get too cold overnight." It's lumpy and worn in places and had probably been used in the engine room at some point but it was still a blanket. Mando and the woman he insisted they pick up from Nevarro didn't even try to negotiate one of the two available sleeping compartments, just resigned themselves to sleeping on the floor. They could just share the one blanket, they said. They'd seen worse. Fennec goes through the final checks for the night on the main control panel and sees Mando and Cara out of the corner of her eye talking in hushed tones. She has to really strain to hear them.
"So you trust these guys?" Cara asks.
Mando responds to his 'friend' more honestly than she would have thought. "As much as I can under the circumstances."
"You want to take turns sleeping then?" the woman asks, more than ready to give up half a night's sleep to keep watch.
Mando shakes his head. "No, we both need to be sharp. It'll be fine."
Fennec watches as he hands Cara the blanket. "Here take it. At least I have long sleeves."
"I run hotter than you do," she says, and shoves the offending fabric back at him. "We'll share it. It's fine." Fennec could have sworn she heard them snicker after the first part. There must have been an inside joke there somewhere she didn't pick up.
They wordlessly chose the spot furthest away from the ladder that had the best view of the room and to her surprise they laid down next to each other in the corner. Fennec figured such a solitary man like Mando would go off by himself but they stayed together as they took off their boots and the larger pieces of armor to allow them to sleep on the unforgiving floor....The woman Mando had insisted they bring along with them (Cara) handed him a rolled up shirt from her bag to use as a pillow and then an put extra pair of pants under her own head for the night. Her blaster was in her hand but it didn't look like the first time she'd slept this way and she likely wouldn't shoot a hole in the hull while she slept. Sleeping with the helmet on couldn't be comfortable, but Mando didn't complain as he shoved the spare rolled up shirt under his neck and went to sleep as well.
An hour later Fennec was awakened by the chirping of a quiet alarm from the flight deck and she stumbled out of bed to go silence it. It was a quirk of the ship and was completely harmless but it wouldn't shut up unless she manually flipped a switch. "Don't mind me," she announced herself, so she doesn't get herself shot when she has to check the control panel close to where the two individuals were sleeping. She had been ghostly quiet but Cara had stirred without waking her companion and looked around in the dark on her elbows. Once she recognized the familiar presence, she went to lay back down but froze as she checked on the man lying beside her. A sliver of his neck was visible from where they'd rolled to get cozy, and even though Fennec trained her eyes elsewhere, Cara gave up her half of the blanket to cover his neck before curling into his back and falling back asleep.
After spending time working with her during the mission, it turned out she liked her, which was surprising in and of itself. This companion of Mando's was competent, capable, and while she had a big mouth she only bragged in jest. She was quiet and focused when it counted and clearly selfless when it came to those she called friends. She was a pretty good shot and didn't hesitate to jump right in with both fists and get the job done either. She was fueled by her anger and determination to get the kid back and Fennec saw why Mando liked her. It wasn't just her face or physique, she admitted, and reminded herself there was more than meets the eye sometimes. She'd never seen Mando work with someone before and wondered if this Cara knew exactly how rare their ‘partnership’ was. More than that, apparently this wasn't the first or second time he'd gone to this woman when he needed help. There were mercs he could hire or droids that had exceptional strength and deadly aim, but this 'Cara' was more desired over both. Huh.....
"So what do you think?" she asks Boba, when it's just the two alone on the ramp. Mando and his 'friend' were still off in the woods staring at one another like they hadn't seen each other in years, or maybe like they'd head off into the woods for a while for another type of reunion all together. People their age didn't make heart eyes at each other like those two were doing right now unless there was something more going on. She might not have been able to technically see Mando's eyes, but his whole body language screamed it where his helmet gave nothing away.
"Think about what?" the man in the green armor asks gruffly, when it’s not immediately clear what she's getting at.
"What's your take? You're good at reading people," she explains, as she tilts her head in Cara's direction.
He lets out a sigh when he realizes she won't let this go until he gives an assessment. “Seems like they've traveled together before," he states. "They seem pretty close. There's obvious history there. They finish each other's sentences and fight well together. He seems visibly more relaxed when she's within earshot. Old lovers perhaps?" he guesses. "The way they speak without speaking and forget to include others in their silent conversations supports it."
Fennec wasn't convinced. "I don't know.... I’m not sure...there's something there but it doesn't feel like it's old. There's too much electricity and anticipation there. They're not ex-lovers I don't think," she decides. "There's no poorly-hidden animosity either. Maybe they haven't gotten there yet and that's why it feels so new--because it is."
Boba actually laughed at her. "Since when do you gossip this much?"
She looks offended and she scoffs. "It's not gossip. I just wonder what's going on between them is all."
"What's going on between them is their business," Boba reminds her.
She looks to where the pair of them are standing and Mando must have said something funny because Cara threw her head back and laughed. “You think they'll figure it out?"
"Whatever they end up ‘figuring out’, it better not be on my ship," Fett replies.
"You're no fun," she informs him. "You're not interested at all?"
"I'm too old for this, I'll leave the gossiping to you," he tells her. "I'll just fly us where we need to go."