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He can still hear the far off sound of missiles and blaster fire, even through the ringing in his ears that has yet to fade.
Arcann is still and pale. Breathing raggedly as his ruined arm spits sparks and blood continues to stain t he armor near his neck. Not dead, though it’s barely any comfort.
The second he’d come around after the explosion and seen the state of him, Caden had heaved the man up into a fireman’s carry and hauled ass. He’d lost his men and his legs on a battlefield too similar to this one, and he’d burn the galaxy to ash if he lost Arcann too.
Someone must have noticed him arrive at the medical tent because he hadn’t needed to flag down a droid, it was there the second he laid Arcann out on the table. As it started assessing the damage, Caden sliced open the sleeve of Arcann’s armor until he could reach the junction near his shoulder. A few clicks were heard as he activated the hidden catches, before he crammed his fingers inside and disconnected the central nerve conduit. The limb stopped seizing and finally went limp, and though he was still unconscious, Caden could see some of Arcann’s muscles relax.
By the time Lana arrives the droid has tried to shoo him away a good three times, the third of which had ended with a blaster in it’s face, so it’s clearly relieved when she moves to treat Arcann herself. Under any other circumstances he’d feel bad about terrorizing the droid, but he’s a vibrating pile of adrenaline and fear right now, so there’s no room for guilt.
With his wounds exposed Lana places her hands delicately over t he area and begins to channel the Force into the worst of them .
It takes several odd looks from her before he realizes that he’s got Arcann’s hand in a death grip, but he can’t find it in himself to care. No room for shame too, it seems.
She’s not stupid. Even distracted with healing, he can see the wheels turning behind her eyes. He’s giving it away, giving them away, but if she has a problem with it, he’ll be happy to argue it out AFTER he’s sure that Arcann will be alright.
I t’s a good 10 minutes before she straightens up and stretches her neck.
“He’s not finished healing just yet, but he’ll be fine on his own now.”
Then of course, she pins him with a fierce glare.
“Care to tell me what’s going on?” she asks with a meaningful glance to Caden’s hands, still wrapped tight around Arcann’s limp fingers.
He thinks about it briefly, wonders if there’s some way to weasel out of it, but there’s really no other good explanation that he can think of. Besides, they knew they’d need to tell her and the others eventually, they’d just hoped it’d be more on their own terms.
“Don’t think I really need to say anythin’, you got eyes.” Studying the calluses on Arcann’s hand seems the best option here, rather than look up and see her face.
The irritated sigh he hears is telling enough.
“I suppose I had my suspicions, but I’d hoped you wouldn’t be this foolish.” She leans on the table and he’s pretty sure she’s pinching the bridge of her nose. He can all but hear it in her voice.
“How long?”
“Eight or nine months maybe.” With everything that’s been happening, time tended to blur together in his head.
S he snorts, “Well, I’ll admit I’m impressed you managed to keep it quiet for so long.” A pause, then her voice turns hard. “When exactly did you plan on telling me? Or were you just going to continue keeping this affair secret. You know full well how bad this will look if and when it gets out.”
He meets her eyes at that and glares.
“And you know I’m not the sorta guy who gives a damn,” he growls. It’s a good thing that Arcann’s still out, Caden’s probably hurting his hand with how hard he’s gripping it.
“I never wanted any of this, you know that, but I sucked it up, played the hero, and saved the galaxy anyway. Now I’ve found somethin’ for me, and if they can’t take it, if YOU can’t take it, that’s your problem.”
T hey stare each other down for a minute or two until she sighs and leans back in her chair.
“I’m not going to pretend to understand why you’d choose him, but I suppose I should have known that this isn’t the sort of thing you’d take lightly.”
When she looks back at him she s eems tired.
“I know very well what you’ve sacrificed to get the Alliance here. If you’re certain, then I’ll support you. We just… need to be careful.”
It’s only then that he feels his metaphorical hackles lower, and he sags a little. It’s not approval, he hadn’t expected that or cared it have it, but the acceptance she DOES give him is a relief.
Lana i s a friend, probably one of his best ones outside of his original crew. F or her to fight him on this would have hurt more than he would ever admit.
“We’ll need to tell Theron as well, you know. His SIS training will serve us well in keeping this quiet until we’re more prepared to reveal it to the public. And Senya-”
“Senya already knows. I ah... had to ask a couple questions that made it sort of obvious.”
He can almost see her putting that into her mental ‘I’m not even going to ask’ pile and he fights a smile.
“Regardless, we’ll all need to discuss this further at a later date,” she replies tiredly.
Arcann shifts on the table with a low sound of pain and Caden immediately leans over him and cups his face, smoothing a thumb across his cheek. He turns into it, just a little, exhaling unsteadily before settling again. When Caden looks up Lana is watching them both with soft smile.
“You’re happy with him, at least?”
He huffs a laugh and gives her a crooked smile.
“Yeah, I am.”