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She had hugged him when she saw him for the first time. He hugged her back painfully tight. It had been another 5 years since Ar’alani had seen Thrawn in person last; but there had been work to do and they had done their job miraculously well if you asked her. They hadn’t had a chance to talk to really talk until now. She was already seated in her office on the wrong side of the desk watching the night sky traffic out her window glass alcohol in front of her, when he finally escaped Ba’kif. He entered, he pulled apart the buttons of his white coat. Chiss white she added appreciatively. She had gone to bat with Ba’kif over that before he told her that Thrawn would indeed become an admiral at last. He sat down next to her heavily and she slid her half finished glass over to him. He took it silently toasting her in thanks before taking a long sip letting the amber liquor burn his throat and numb the exhaustion.
She studied him; he was still thinner than the last time she had seen him years ago. His hair was now streaked with as much gray as hers and there was a permanent crease on his forehead. She had an urge to smooth it with her thumb. He was watching her too, no doubt gleaning far more out of her than she was out of him. She didn’t mind though, she had never minded that he had the ability to just read people. She admired it, was occasionally jealous of it but she never had a problem with it. She thought back to their first meeting at the academy when he had been accused of cheating, just by giving him a chance she would never have thought what had become of them. They had been a pair, classmates, colleagues, friends, partners and occasionally more. They had been through two wars and exiles together and it was until now that every adventure and escapade they had been on had finally caught up to them. Ar’alani had never felt so exhausted in her life and Thrawn looked as tired as she felt.
Thrawn held his hand out to her and she took it. It felt good feeling his thumb run over her knuckles. She remembered the first time they had ever crossed the line into something more. They had both still been at the academy, Thrawn had gotten guard duty for some small infraction and Ar’alani had joined that night to keep him company. They had talked, Thrawn about his childhood and Thrass, his only other friend and her about her family and the pressure they put on her. They had kissed that had been it for the night; it was an experiment they both said. Thrawn had never kissed anyone and Ar'alani only one other guy; it was just an experiment. They hadn’t spoken of it again until they had stayed up late the night of her promotion to admiral where they had leaped across that line. They had been tiptoeing around that looking back, the entire time he was at the Izrizi homestead. While they were technically friends with benefits now, it had always been friends first; they still rarely crossed that line. The last time had been the night before he left for the empire. The emotional waves that hit her thinking of all that and everything they had just been through.
Thrawn seemed to sense that or read it in her face and slid the glass to her and squeezed her hand. “I’m tired too.” he says softly to her.
Ar’alani took a sip before replying. “You deserve to be.”
“So do you, force knows you’ve done far more than I to hold the ascendancy together.” Thrawn tells her. ‘Force knows’ a little reminder of how long he had been in the known galaxy and away from home and away from her.
“Says the man who was shot into space and defeated the grysks.” Ar’alani snorts.
“Well I had to come back after all I gave you my word.” Thrawn says the smallest of smiles playing on his face.
“Yes, you do have a knack for finding a way, I’ll give you that.” Ar’alani scoffs amused.
Thrawn smiles for real this time he starts to open his mouth but thinks better of it. Ar’alani can guess what he was thinking it was one of two areas Ar’alani was easily better than him in. “Would you like to stay tonight?” she asks.
He looked up from their hands surprised. “I would like that.” he says softly. She got the feeling that he had very much missed Chiss from the time she saw him with the empire and even more so since getting lost in space. But his friends specifically he had missed. He had linger more than he normally would with Ziinda and Samakro. He had stayed with her, her entire shift on the bridge on their way back to Csilla. She had missed him too, Ziinda and Wutroow were great friends but they weren't Thrawn. They didn’t understand her the way he did. She didn’t want him to leave anymore than he did. She idly wondered how much fire they were playing with as she let him pull her up and turn off the desk light. Ah blast what does it matter anyways she was too tired to care about it anymore and he was too.