Chapter Text
“When was the last time you slept?” a feminine voice questioned the cathar who stood at one of the ship’s large windows, revealing the endless starry skies surrounding them. Without turning his head, he answered.
“I’ll sleep when she gets back.”
“Sir, it…does not look like she’ll be coming back.” The words were slow to leave the woman's lips, unwilling to say out loud what everyone around them was thinking. “For a while, at least. You do need to rest, sir. I can stay up to keep an eye out. I’ll wake you immediately as soon as she’s back.”
“That won’t be necessary.” he returned. “Besides, I’d rather be the first one to greet her when she arrives. To tell her she needs to stop playing heroics and being so reckless with her well-being. She keeps cutting it close, tempting fate, the Force, whatever it is.” He ignored how the young woman behind him shifted in discomfort.
“Sir, it’s been hours. Some of the others are saying-,”
“I am fully aware of what they’re saying.” Hidden fists tightening from under his crossed arms. “And they’re wrong. They don’t understand that we’ve gone through missions like this before. She has defied the odds repeatedly, looking death straight in the eyes. There is no reason she would fail now.” It was foolish to think that way. Escape pods had been found, she was not among them. A reliable source had witnessed the ship they escaped from exploding. The Major had still been on board.
“I agree with you, sir, I really do.” Seeing how her method of trying to get him to sleep was not working, she placated him. “What if she isn’t coming back right now, sir?”
“She’ll come back. She always comes back.”
“Yes, sir. What I mean is that perhaps she was unable to reach us and is stranded somewhere?”
“Then we’ll go find her.”
“You’re not in any physical shape to be searching for her.”
“Sergeant, I am perfectly fine to go look for her.”
“You’re acting exactly like her!” The uncharacteristic outburst was enough to make the cathar turn his head to look at the medic. Flustered, she regained her composure. “You’ve lectured her multiple times on sacrificing sleep, how it affects her performance. If she were standing here in this moment, what would she say, sir?” The brief silence unnerved her, unsure of what he'd do. Her shoulder relaxed once he responded after a long sigh and pinched his nose bridge.
“She’d throw my exact words in my face. Doing that… that stupid mimicking voice.”
“And then add in what we have to remind each other; not to punish ourselves for things out of our control.” A hesitant step was taken toward him.“I’m not asking you to give up, sir. I’m asking you to rest. So you can be in better shape for when she arrives. Then you can lecture her without being so tired, sir.” A small smile of encouragement was offered. “I am going to help you find her, sir. She’s not just our leader and your wife; she is a very close friend of mine.”
Her gaze averted while adding in soft confession: “Sometimes it feels like she is my only friend.” When her eyes met his again, there was a change in her look. A determination that reminded him of their missing leader. “I want her back just as much as you, sir. I will not stop until she is found. However, as the medic, I am going to enforce exactly what you admitted our leader would want me to do. Would you dare disobey?”
There was a moment of silence, eyes locked. The medic's heart pounded, her feet planted. Her superior finally huffed.
“It seems I’m not the only one who is as stubborn as she is, Sergeant.”
“Thank you, sir.” From that, she got to witness the last sign of any kind of smile on his face in years to come.
“Alert me as soon as you get news on her. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded as she stood right beside him to begin her watch, her eyes searching the endless starry skies